Police using WhatsApp in move to reduce crime

SMARTPHONE users in Lae can now communicate with police via Whats-App to report crime.
The Lae city police WhatsApp account was launched yesterday.
Metropolitan Superintendant Anthony Wagambie Jr said the account would be online from today and he thanked Digicel Papua new Guinea for their support.
“The public in Lae can now access the police WhatsApp account through the emergency toll free number. They can send crime related pictures or videos to our control room,” he said
Wagambie Jr said that using Whats-App and emergency number would give members of the public the opportunity to take ownership of law-and-order issues.
“I want to assure the people of Lae that we will continue to attend to any occurrences reported to police,” he said.
“Our 24 hour police operations room is now accessible to the public.”
Wagambie said the WhatsApp accout  operated on their emergency toll-free number.
“We have set guidelines for this so phone numbers, photos, videos and identities of our informants would strictly be used for police operations only,” he said.
“This is a community partnership project so I encourage more people to use it to create a safe environment for all to live in.”
Wagambie said WhatsApp users could send to police their exact location using one of the features of the application to enable police to respond immediately.
“We have experienced problems where police are being sent to attend to incidents and fail to find the locations,” he said.
In May, Lae police created an emergency toll-free number and a Facebook page to allow the public to interact and communicate with them.