On Facebook,cops network more games,less citizens

In November,Jain had created an account of the Kanpur police in Facebook and instructed all 45 station officers (SO) in the district to open their own accounts.

At least 15 SOs have complied. But a visit to these accounts show that most SOs use Facebook mainly to play games and entertain themselves. Some also use the logo of the Uttar Pradesh Police in their personal accounts.

At 12.19 pm on Thursday ,SO of Rail Bazaar,R K Saxena,played the game of “The Button”,in which,a person has to make the maximum number of clicks within 10 seconds. Saxena made as many as 80 clicks in 10 seconds.

His counterpart,Gwaltoli SO Hari Ram Verma,could manage only 5 clicks in 10 seconds. Saxena also went on to post national and state level news on the official page of the police station.

Kohna police and Bajaria police have visited the poker table on the social networking website. Sub-Inspector Pradeep Kumar Rai — currently posted at Kohna police station — has put up the logo of Uttar Pradesh Police in his personal account profile.

Similarly,Constable Pramod Kumar — deployed in the DIG Office — has used the logo of the state police in his profile.

“This is the first time when the Kanpur police has made an attempt to reach out to the people through a social networking website. Therefore,some mistakes are bound to be made in the initial stages,” said the DIG.

He,however,said action will be initiated against officers who were found playing games from the official account during working hours. “Every person has a right to relax and enjoy but the official account is not for this purpose,” said Jain.

He will soon issue guidelines for the use of the official account. “In addition,after all police stations open their account,we will conduct a seminar to teach the officers the way such accounts can be used.”

Steps will also be taken to ensure that no one used the official logo in a personal account.

Asked about his experience since the opening of the account,the Rail Bazaar SO said: “It is a good initiative but the response from people has not been very encouraging. But it acts as a stress buster as we get opportunity to play games.”