Civic complaints inundate police app

Not knowing where to vent their frustrations against civic issues, many are pressing the “lodge a complaint” button on the Hyderabad Police app “Hawk Eye” to vent their frustration. The app, which is easily accessible on the mobile platform, has over 70,000 citizens registered. Complaints that are not related to law and order issues are being forwarded to the concerned departments. While TSSPDCL has taken up work for 173 such complaints, GHMC has attended to around 40, said officials from the department.

The “Hawk Eye” app is now being used as a nodal forum for lodging all kinds of complaints and grievances by citizens, say police officials. Given the response, police authorities are planning to integrate the police app with traffic police for updates and advisories to help it reach out to a larger number of people.

Cops have also started coordinating with various agencies and are sending across the related grievances to them. “We have been getting all kinds of complaints on our app Hawk Eye, most of which might not require police intervention. Every day we receive on an average 80 to 90 video footages or photographs showing open manholes, broken roads and various traffic violations. We have become like a nodal agency for all kinds of complaints. These complaints are being forwarded to the concerned departments,” said additional CP (law and order) Anjani Kumar.

Also, after a stream of photographs showing violations by cops, followed up with action against them, cops are refraining from indulging in traffic violations. This apart, law and order related complaints, suggestions and requirements are also being lodged with the help of the app.

A number of registered women users have started logging in the details of cab journeys in the app before their journey. This allows the app to track where a registered women passenger is at a given point in time.

“As part of our citizen friendly initiative, we are not only just a click away, but we have also taken steps to make citizens, including women (2,500 police officers have been trained in soft skills in the past eight months), more comfortable and safe to approach us. The results are showing and citizens have started approaching us for every possible subject," added the official.

The same pattern of usage was also observed when the Cyberabad Police had introduced a Women Helpline last year. Awareness about such an option resulted in fewer women calling for actual threat situations and most were general calls from women asking for help on marital issues.

This scenario hints at the huge vacuum that citizens face when they want their voice to be heard and civic authorities need to create an easier interface like the police have done.