Delhi Police

In 1948, the Delhi Police was restructured. Mr D.W. Mehra became the first chief of Delhi Police. The strength of the Delhi Police in 1951 was about 8,000 with one Inspector General of Police (IGP) and eight Superintendents of Police (SP). In 1956 a post of Deputy Inspector General of Police was created. In 1961, the strength of Delhi police was over 12,000.[11]

In 1966, the Delhi Police on the basis of the Khosla Commission Report was reorganized. Four police districts, namely, North, Central, South and New Delhi were created.[11] In 1978, the Delhi Police Act was passed and the Commissioner System was introduced with effect from 1 July 1978.[6]^: para7.69

J.N. Chaturvedi, with rank of IGP, became first Commissioner of Delhi Police from October 1978 – Jan 1980.[11]

Old headquarters of Delhi Police at Indraprastha Marg

Following the Sixth Central Pay Commission, the UPA Government, in 2008, decided to make promotions for Indian Police Service officers, even for higher ranks, time-bound. Indian Police Service officers are now promoted on a fixed time table, more or less independent of functional requirements or span of responsibility, up to the level of Inspector General of Police, at intervals of 4, 9, 13, 14, and 18 years of service.[12]^{: p 155–56, section 3} The time-bound promotion, much of it non-functional, to high ranks apart from increasing the burden on the policing budget has made Delhi Police top-heavy, sluggish, and unwieldy. Delhi Police, which had one Inspector General (IG) until January 1980s, now has 12 officers with ranks senior to IGPs. They are called Commissioners and Special Commissioners, who are in the HAG grades and apex pay grades. In addition, Delhi police, instead of one IGP, has several dozen IGPs, as everyone gets to be IGP after completion of 18 years service. New IG's functions and responsibilities are no different from that of pre-1980s DIGs and Superintendents of Police (SPs).[12]^{: Senior Duty Posts under Government of Delhi, p 177}

As of January 2019, Delhi Police has 15 Police Districts with 178 'territorial' Police Stations. Apart from this there are 7 Railway Police stations, 16 Metro Rail Police stations and 5 specialized crime units declared as Police Stations namely, Economic Offenses Wing, Crime Branch, Special Cell, Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC) and Vigilance.[6]^: para7.69

Since 1984, DP Training College is located in the village of Jharoda Kalan and Wazirabad, Delhi .[8]

In addition Delhi Police deploys 79 Police Control Room Vehicles (Static and semi-static) in Lutyens' Delhi, where most of Delhi's VVIP live. 24 are exclusively for Members of Parliament (MPs). In addition Delhi Police provides static pickets, motor cycle patrol, and foot patrol, on 24-hour basis, including 39 static pickets, 17 motorcycle police patrols, and five Emergency Response Vehicles mounted patrols. The high police presence is supplemented with surveillance devices: 230 Close Circuit Television Cameras are located in North Avenue, South Avenue, MS MP flats, Narmada Apartment, Brahmaputra Apartment and Swarn Jayanti Complex. This is in addition to 412 CCTVs are installed at various roads leading to ministers and MP's residences in Lutyens' Delhi.[9]

The Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Home Affairs (India) (MHA) are responsible for identifying and nominating persons deserving police protection. The level of police protection is decided by the Home Minister and the home Secretary. There are five categories of protection or security cover: Z+, Z, Y+, Y and X. Who will get which category of security cover is decided by Security Categorization Committee (SCC) — headed by the home secretary.[20][9]

Armed Police protection to those designated as deserving protection by MHA is provided by personnel drawn from central paramilitary forces under the home ministry such as the NSG, CRPF and CISF. In 2006 the CISF was mandated to raise a Special Security Group (SSG) for VIP security. The SSG unit in CISF came into being on 17 November 2006. This unit is responsible for the physical protection of highly threatened dignitaries/individuals, evacuation of Protected Persons, and providing static as well as mobile security to the Protected Persons".[21] ^{: para 2.129}

In addition to the MHA and the Intelligence Bureau, the Delhi Police Commissioner is also authorized to extend police protection on the basis of reports by the Special Bureau of Delhi police.[20]

In 2012, during the tenure of the Congress(I) led government, the Intelligence Bureau nominated 332 persons for protection; in 2016, under the BJP led NDA government, the number of people identified by Intelligence Bureau and MHA for police protection shot up to 454. A spokesperson of the MHA dismissed allegations that the list of persons given police protection is prepared arbitrarily. He said, "The number of protectees keeps changing depending on reports and inputs received from the security agencies. " Home Minister Rajnath Singh's predecessor Sushil Kumar Shinde, had explained that the persons nominated for protection "Only on the basis of recommendations from the Intelligence Bureau (IB)...We don't do it on our own," The current list includes nine expelled Congress MLAs from Uttarakhand who revolted against Harish Rawat and joined the BJP on 18 May 2016 . It includes the name of BJP's Kisan Morcha chief Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Umesh Kumar, a journalist, who carried out a sting on chief minister Rawat.[20][9]

In 2016 in Delhi categories of security cover was : 42 Z+, 55 Z; 72 Y+ ; 143 Y ; 67 X category, 19 security under discretion of Special Commissioner of Police . Delhi police is responsible for providing security cover to 66.[9]