Say cheese!

INDIA: Here’s a job you probably don’t want: traffic cop in New Delhi. With a population of 12 million, the city has some of the most overcrowded streets and erratic drivers in the world. But now New Delhi’s police have found help, thanks to their own page on Facebook.

Since the page was started in June, residents have been busily taking photos of traffic violations and posting them on the Delhi Traffic Police page. The police are using photos showing number plates to locate drivers and to issue traffic tickets.

"Traffic police can't be everywhere." Satyendra Garg

Satyendra Garg, Delhi’s joint commissioner of traffic, says the police are pleased by the public support. “Traffic police can’t be present everywhere,” Garg told the International Herald Tribune, “but rules are always being broken. If people want to report it, we welcome it. A violation is a violation.”

Not everyone thinks the site is a good idea, however. “When you start using the internet as a way for the government to keep tabs on its citizens, I start getting really worried, because you don’t know where it will end,” says Gaurav Mishra, CEO of 2020 Social, an online business consulting firm.

Meanwhile, citizen cops should not consider themselves to be above the law. “We advise while you are driving not to take a photo,” Garg says. He points out that using a mobile phone while driving “in itself is a violation”.