Spot, shoot, upload: Chandigarh residents act as eyes of traffic police

Are you in the habit of speeding when you know there are no cops or CCTVs around? Do you have little regard for traffic rules, parking norms or the right of way of others on the road? Think again. Your fellow commuter or passerby may be recording you in the act to report to the police.

In the last four years (2019 to 2022), Chandigarh traffic police have challaned 54,567 violators on the basis of complaints from the public on the former’s social media platforms, including Facebook page, Twitter and Whatsapp.

The Chandigarh police’s Facebook page has 61,768 while its Twitter handle has a following of 32,337.

Since January 1 this year, 2,568 traffic violators have been fined following public complaints received through social media.

Notably, out of 6, 02,454 traffic challans issued last year, 11,341 traffic penalties were imposed with the help of public complaints received on social media, including 9,333 received on WhatsApp.

Armed with smart phones, these traffic sentinels shared a total of 2,090 photos on the FB and Twitter pages of UT police, which included images of wrongly parked vehicles, vehicles plying on cycle tracks, those halted on zebra crossing, people driving two-wheelers without helmets, triple riding and violation of number plate norms.

In 2021, out of total 2,32,319 traffic challans issued, 10,874 were on the basis of social media complaints (see box).

Cops not spared either

According to sources, a few cops also faced legal or departmental action after people shared their audios or videos seeking bribes or misbehaving with the public.

“We don’t issue challans arbitrarily. Each complaint, videos or pictures received is thoroughly verified before we take action. Also, people don’t just report violations, some even send in their suggestions or feedback. This helps us improve and create a healthy two-way communication channel,” reveals deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jaswinder Singh.

He added that residents also sometimes share civic problems of their respective areas. Such complaints are forwarded to the appropriate department requesting them for speedy action, the DSP added.

“We have created special WhatsApp groups in which we have added officers of all key government departments to forward the complaints received from residents,” he stated.

Cops use tech to make the ride smoother

Senior superintendent of police (traffic)Manisha Chaudhary also worked on a collaboration between UT police and Google to help monitor the speed of vehicles and share important alerts to road users. “In case of traffic diversion due to some VIP activity or any other civic issue work, our team informs the Google team which alerts the public through the navigation system. Moreover, our social media cell immediately posts about road closures, traffic diversions or other important details till the routes are cleared which helps commuters avoid the hassles,” a senior police officer shared.

Meanwhile, a senior officer also advised people to avoid recording while driving as it may cause fatal accidents. “The person sitting on the passenger seat can record the violation but the driver should avoid doing so. The driver can click and report the violation in case his vehicle is halted. One should not chase any vehicle to note down its registration number,” the cop stated.