Uttar Pradesh Police


The Uttar Pradesh Police, often abbreviated as UP Police, is the premier law enforcement agency of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Headquartered in Lucknow, it is considered to be the world's largest police force. The Uttar Pradesh Police is headed by the Director General of Police for the state of Uttar Pradesh, who is the highest ranking IPS officer of the state cadre. The current DGP of Uttar Pradesh Police is Hitesh Chandra Awasthy since February 1, 2020.
It was formed in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the Police Act, 1861. Uttar Pradesh police is governed by the Department of Home and Confidential of Uttar Pradesh.
UP Police is the first Indian state police agency to have a highway patrol, the UP Highway Police.
The first DGP of Uttar Pradesh was Mahendra Singh. He was also the Inspector general of police from 12 March 1980 to 23 February 1981.

History

The present police system was created following the recommendation of the Shubham saroj s/o Mr.Prem chandra saroj headed by H.M. Court in 1860 and was enacted as Police Act of 1861. H.M. Court became the first inspector general of police of the then North West Province and Avadh which comprised the territory of the present state of Uttar Pradesh. Since then many amendments in Police Act of 1861 have happened which has shaped the current institution and structure of police in the state.

Organisation

A Director General of Police heads the state police. He is assisted by many police officers. State police headquarters is situated in Lucknow.
For the purpose of maintaining law and order in the state, the state of Uttar Pradesh is divided into 8 police zones. Each zone is headed by an officer of the rank of additional director general of police who is an officer of the Indian police Service. Each police zone is constituted by 2 to 3 police ranges. The following is the list of the police zones.
There are a total of 18 police ranges in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Each range is headed by an officer of the rank of either inspector general of police or deputy inspector general of police which corresponds with administrative division. Each police range is constituted by around 2 to 4 districts.
There are totally 75 police districts in the state. In each district, the head of the police is the SP or SSP. In discharge of his duties he is assisted by Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Superintendent of Police who may either be the officers of the Provincial Police Service or Indian Police Service. The number of SPs and Deputy SPs varies with the size, population, police work or nature of police work in different districts. The number of SPs and Dy.SPs in districts like Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Meerut, Allahabad is considerably more than other districts. Whereas in smaller districts like Baghpat, Kannauj, Mahoba, Chandauli the number of the PPS officers is relatively lesser.
Typically, a police district in the state corresponds with the administrative district. Though, the head of the police force in the district is the senior superintendent of police /superintendent of police, who is always an officer of the Indian police Service, the ultimate/final responsibility with regard to the maintenance of the law and order in the district lies with the district magistrate who is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. The police district is further subdivided into police sub-divisions or police circles. A police circle is usually headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Superintendent of Police. The officer heading the police circle/sub-division is designated as the Circle Officer in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A police circle is usually constituted by 2 to 4 police stations. Each police station is headed by a police inspector. Throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh and other states, especially in North India, there is a main police station in the older/ main part of the city known as the Kotwali. The Kotwali covers the main or usually the older part of the town/city under its jurisdiction. Earlier, when the cities and towns were smaller and had lesser population than at present and they hadn't grown in size so much, the Kotwali covered the main town area of the cities or the districts. A police station is also called as a thana in the local language. The officer in charge of a police station is designated as or called as the station officer or station house officer. He is assisted by various sub-inspectors, head-constables, constables. There are also a number of police chowkis that come under the police station. A is under the charge of a sub-inspector of police. The regular constabulary carries the bulk of normal beat policing and patrolling.
Police commissionerate system has been implemented in the cities of Lucknow City and Gautam Buddh Nagar. In the commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police in the rank of Additional Director General of Police heads the district. In Lucknow, the CP is assisted by 2 Joint Commissioners of Police in the rank of IG and in Gautam Buddh Nagar, the commissioner is assisted by 2 Additional Commissioners in the rank of DIG who look after Law and order while other looks into Crime & Headquarters. Under them there is a team of IPS & PPS officers who are posted as DCPs and ACPs. Three DCPs are posted in a zone. One DCP's insignia is the state emblem above one star, who is senior to the other two DCPs, whose insignia is one state emblem only. Under the DCPs work ACPs, who are the chiefs of various circles. They are vested with the powers of executive magistrate for criminal cases. Police Commissionerates are independent from zonal & range police chiefs supervision. They are also vested with powers of executive magistrate under various acts.

Hierarchy

Gazetted Officers
Non-gazetted officers
Gazetted Officers
Non-gazetted officers
Same as above

List of Uttar Pradesh Police Chiefs

No.NameFromTo
11SG Pearce1 December 194626 October 1947
10P Meabsure28 June 194530 November 1946
10MA Inglis6 July 194026 June 1945
9RA Horton7 November 19375 July 1940
8AH Phillips15 March 19376 November 1937
7RA Horton16 June 193518 February 1937
5ST Holling7 April 193415 June 1935
6HR Roe5 November 19336 April 1934
5ST Holling27 April 19314 November 1933
RJS Dodd5 November 192825 March 1931
4AH Williamson3 May 19284 November 1928
3RJS Dodd7 November 19252 May 1928
2AD Ashdown1 October 19236 November 1925
1LM Kaye23 February 191930 September 1923

Unit/wings

The various units/wings of the UP police are:
  1. Training Directorate
  2. Criminal Investigation Department
  3. Special Enquiry Cell
  4. Anti Corruption Organization
  5. Human Rights Cell
  6. Anti-Terrorist Squad
  7. Intelligence Department
  8. Economic Offences Wing
  9. Crime Cell
  10. Special Weapons and Tactics
  11. Technical Services
  12. Government Railway police
  13. Dial 112 Service
  14. Special Task Force
  15. Uttar Pradesh Fire Service
  16. Traffic Directorate
  17. Provincial Armed Constabulary
  18. Special investigation team
  19. Radio Headquarter of police
  20. Law and Order Cell
  21. Control Room
  22. Uttar Pradesh Homeguard

  23. Zones, ranges and districts

Equipment

Most of the weapons in service with the Uttar Pradesh Police are locally produced by the Indian ordnance factories controlled by the Ordnance Factories Board, the police also inducts various weapons imported by the Ministry of Home Affairs as part of modernisation plans.
As per the 2017 audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Uttar Pradesh Police has a shortage of 45,047 handguns and an excess of 56,298 rifles.
48%, 58,853, of the 1.22 lakh rifles available to the state police are of point-303 bore category, which was rendered obsolete by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1995.
Weapons of the UP Police also include:
A social media command and research center has been established in Meerut. The center monitors trends in social media that can have an impact on law & order situation and advises concerned district and range police chiefs.