Monitoring and use of social media can help prevent crimes and police will be "foolish" if they do not take advantage of it, a senior Delhi Police official said here today.
S N Srivastava, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell), said there is a "little scope" of increasing manpower in police but through proper training and use of technological advances this gap could be bridged.
"I would like to make a special mention of the technology that is available to us in the form of social media. One can prevent a lot of crime through social media and through other means to interact with the public. Social media, the way people build network.
"Police agencies will be foolish if they don't take advantage of that as the way to connect with people. Monitoring of social media can help assess public opinion which could be useful in maintaining law and order situation," Srivastava said.
He made these remarks at a press conference to announce the 16th India International Security Expo - 2013. The four-day event will be held in the city from September 26 to 29.
Srivastava said different channels, particularly social media, can bridge the communication gap and increase citizen's involvement in local policing efforts.
On the use of technological advances in increasing the productivity of the police force, he said, "Technological innovations have the potential to dramatically improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. To do this job, police have to look frequently towards technology for enhancing the effectiveness but the progress of technology in the police force has been slow and uneven.
"There is little scope of increasing the number of police forces...At the same time, the threats are increasing and diversifying. We can only cope up with the expected increase in crime through training and use of technological advances.
