Police services in India comprises the Indian Police Service (IPS), DANIPS, and Pondicherry Police Service recruited by the central government, along with various State Police Services recruited by state governments. As policing is a state subject, the structure and organization of police forces vary across states. In most state police forces, ranks below Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) are considered subordinates, while DSP and above are supervisory ranks.[1] These officers are organized in a structured hierarchical order.
Ranks of law enforcement in India
The ranks, posts, and designations of all police officers vary from state to state as law and order is a state matter. But, generally the following pattern is observed:[2][3][4]
Gazetted officers
Indian Police Service gazetted officers rank insignia[5][6][7]
The Indian Police Service is not a law enforcement organisation, but a professional body of police officers. Police officers may enter the IPS by two different routes:
State-level selection. Candidates may take a state-level examination for State Police Service (SPS) gazetted officers; examinations are administered by the individual State Public Service Commissions. Successful candidates are gazetted with the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police and become members of their state police cadre. After a period of satisfactory service, state police service officers may be nominated to join the IPS at this rank or, if they receive further promotions, at the rank of Superintendent of Police. When State Police Service officers get promoted to IPS, their rank does not change. Generally, State Police Officers are paid more at the same rank when compared to their IPS counterparts, but IPS officers get promoted in less amount of time when compared to their SPS counterparts. When an SPS officer is promoted to an IPS officer, the salary usually decreases as the IPS counterpart holding a rank like SP normally gets less salary than his/her SPS counterpart.
State's Home Department
The Home Department of each respective state is primarily tasked with policy and administration related to law and order, police, internal security, prisons, and prosecution, among other responsibilities. The department is headed by an Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary to the Government. It oversees the maintenance of law and order, the prevention and control of crime, the prosecution of criminals, and also deals with fire services and prison administration. The state police forces function under this department, playing a vital role in enforcing laws, ensuring public safety, and maintaining order within the state's jurisdiction.
State forces and their structure
Each state police force is headed by an IPS officer in the rank of Director General of Police (DGP). The head of a state police force has the designation of Director General of Police, and is assisted by one to several Additional or Special DGPs. Each Additional/Special DGP is responsible for a bureau within the state police (Law & Order, Crime, Administration, Intelligence, etc.).[12][13][14] Some large state police forces, such as the Maharashtra Police, Tamil Nadu Police and Uttar Pradesh Police are generally divided into zones, ranges and commissionerates. However, even some large police forces such as Bihar Police don't have Police Commissionerates. Smaller state police forces, such as the Andaman and Nicobar Police or the Arunachal Pradesh Police, are typically only divided into ranges; however, this system of divisions can vary from force to force.[12][13][14][15] Each range or zone is headed by an officer in the rank of Additional DGP or Inspector General of Police.
Commissionerates generally encompass major cities that are so designated, such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. Each commissionerate has its own individual police force headed by an IPS officer with the designation of Commissioner of Police (CP). The Commissioner of Police may be of the rank of Additional DGP, ADGP or IGP but can also be in the rank of DIGP. The Commissioner of Police is empowered with the powers of an executive magistrate and functions as such. The Commissioner of Police is assisted by one to several Joint Commissioners of Police, who usually hold the rank of IGP (or Deputy IGP).[16][13] Each is in charge of a bureau (Law and Order, Crime, etc.), mirroring the organisation of the state police as a whole. Below the JCPs, the organisation is typically as follows:
Region: Headed by an IPS Additional Commissioner of Police (Addl. CP) in the rank of DIGP. Gazetted officers below the rank of DIGP may either be IPS or SPS officers.
Zone: Each region is divided into a number of zones, each headed by an Additional Director General of Police (ADG) or Inspector General of Police (IG)
Division: A zone usually contains one to two divisions, each headed by Inspector General of Police or DIGP.[17][13]
The general organisation outside commissionerates is as follows:
Zone: Headed by an IPS officer in the rank of ADG or IG
Range: Headed by an IPS officer in the rank of IG or DIG
District: Headed by a Senior Superintendent or a Superintendent of Police (SP).
Area: Headed by a Superintendent of Police, generally having a lower grade pay than the district head if the district head is an SSP.
Sub Division: A sub division is headed by an officer of the rank of DSP or ASP. Which is called as SDPO (Sub Divisional Police Officer). In Uttarpradesh and Rajasthan, the officer incharge of a police Sub-division is known as Circle Officer (CO), and who has the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).
Police Circle: In some states, such as Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, etc., there are a few circles within the sub-division. A police circle consists of two or more police stations. Typically, an Inspector takes charge of the Circle and is known as the Circle Inspector (CI).
Police station: Commanded by a non-gazetted police officer. In a city, an Inspector or Sub-inspector may be in charge of one police station. They are posted as Station house officer and Station Officer respectively. The Inspector or sub-inspector commands several sub-inspectors (SI) or assistant sub-inspector and other low-ranked officials.
Sub-inspectors (PSIs), the first police officers who may file a charge sheet, often command police stations in rural districts or police outposts or substations; in cities, they operate out of a police station and administer beats (chowkies). Sub-inspectors are assisted by assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), who may also be in charge of chowkies, under them are head constables (senior constables), who lead teams of constables.
