UP Police save 10 lives in week with Meta’s help

[Representational Photo : iStock]


Uttar Pradesh police, with the help of social media Meta, have saved the lives of 10 people who attempted suicide in the last one week in the state.

Meta had shared with the police the information about suicide-related posts on social media. Acting on the information, these people could be prevented from committing suicides.

DGP Prashant Kumar said here on Friday that information about suicide posts on social media is received with the help of Meta Company. Taking prompt action in such cases and cognizance of the alerts received in 14 cases in the last one week, the police talked to the victims and their families. A total of 10 lives could be saved.

The officer, however, did not reveal the places or persons whose lives were saved.

The DGP said that if a post related to suicide is made by any person on Facebook or Instagram, then Meta informed the police about them by the headquarters of Meta company.

An alert is immediately sent to the social media centre of the police headquarters through phone and email.

STF server ((or Smartphone Test Farm- is a web application for debugging smartphones, smartwatches and other gadgets remotely) has been integrated with this desk. With its help, the immediate location of the person posting such a post is detected and information is given to UP-112 as well as the district concerned for immediate action.

Then the Police Response Vehicle (PRV) of UP-112 and the local police reach the mobile location provided by the headquarters and contact the victim and his family members.

In the remaining four alerts, police help could not be reached due to the location not being known based on the details available through Meta and the case being from another state.