"Every regional police head must ready a public report hotline available on WA (WhatsApp)," the police's Public Relations Division Head, Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo, stated here, Monday.
He said that setting up the dedicated hotline is a concrete measure to improve the police's performance in serving the public, as through the WhatsApp channel, police officers could promptly respond to public complaints and reports.
"It is similar to what the Police Chief often does," he noted.
The Police Headquarters' Technology and Informatics Division will conduct evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of the hotline services, he added.
"It will be monitored, analyzed, and evaluated by the Technology and Informatics Division," Prasetyo remarked.
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Despite the police chief's instruction having been executed by regional police heads in the recent week, the police division head noted that no information was yet available regarding the total number of regional police heads, who have the WhatsApp hotline ready.
On April 2021, Police Chief Prabowo spoke of having often received complaints and reports from members of the public, who contacted him directly through WhatsApp.
"I still receive complaints directly conveyed by residents to me. I did not know some of them or who sent the WhatsApp (message), but I opened the message and forward (the message). Often, I answered the message before forwarding it," Prabowo stated.
Apart from WhatsApp, the police chief also allowed residents to interact with him directly through social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram. Residents often used the open comment section in the general's social media posts to convey their complaints or reports.
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Translator: Laily Rahmawaty, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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