Mumbai Police launches Twitter handle, gets over 9500 followers in 24 hrs

MUMBAI: The official handle of Mumbai Police on the popular micro blogging site Twitter has received an overwhelming response from citizens, with over 9,500 followers in just 24 hours of its launch.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed yesterday launched two Twitter handles - @MumbaiPolice and @CPMumbaiPolice.

The @MumbaiPolice handle by 4 PM today had 9,840 followers on its handle, way ahead of the Delhi Police, active on Twitter since September 2013, which stands at just 3,559.

Bengaluru Police, which joined twitter in August 2012, has 1.32 lakh followers

On good response garnered by the Twitter handle, an official, entrusted to monitor the handle, hoped going the pace with which @MumbaiPolice has been receiving followers, it will surpass Bengaluru Police handle.

Notably, @CPMumbaiPolice handle is yet to follow @MumbaPolice handle.

"On New Year's eve, I want all the citizens to have a good evening & request them to be responsible too" @CPMumbaiPolice @mymalishka 's show

— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) December 29, 2015

When asked if it took Mumbai Police quite some time to join twitter, Joint Commissioner, Mumbai Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti said, "Yes, it was due to some procedure including setting up infrastructure. But now we have made our active presence online and 24x7."

"Initially, we are taking help of some professionals to handle and maintain the page, but soon our dedicated staff would be self-sufficient to handle it," said Bharti, adding that the department was also mulling to have a Facebook page.

Mumbaikars can now reach out to police when in need or emergency through live tweets, pictures and messages.

Mumbai Police spokesperson, Dhananjay Kulkarni said, "Any Mumbaikar in distress can reach out to us directly and we are there to render quick response. We have a dedicated team working the tweets received by us and doing the needful to help the person in distress."