Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service (Bhāratīya Pulis Sevā) or IPS, is an All India Service for policing.[3] It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India gained independence from Britain.
Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS), the IPS is one of the three All India Services — its cadre can be employed by both the Union Government and the individual States.
The service is not a force itself but provides leaders and commanders to staff the state police and all-India Central Armed Police Forces. Its members are the senior officers of the police.[4] The Bureau of police Research and Development is responsible for research and development of the police force in India.
History
In 1861, the British Government introduced the Indian Councils Act, 1861. The act created the foundation of a modern and professionalised police bureaucracy in India. It introduced, a new cadre of police, called Superior Police Services, later known as the Indian Imperial Police. The highest rank in the service was the inspector general[8] for each province. The rank of inspector general was equated and ranked with brigadier, and similar ranks in the Indian Armed Forces, as per central warrant of precedence in 1937.
In 1902-03, a police commission was established for the Police reforms under Sir Andrew Fraser and Lord Curzon. It recommended the appointment of Indians at officer level in the police. Indians could rise only to the ranks of Inspector of police, the senior N.C.O. position. However they were not part of Indian Imperial Police.
From 1920, Indian Imperial Police was open to Indians and the entrance examination for the service was conducted both in India and England.
Prior to Independence, senior police officers belonging to the Imperial Police (IP) were appointed by the Secretary of State on the basis of a competitive examination. The first open civil service examination for admission to the service was held in England in June 1893 and the ten top candidates were appointed as probationers in the Indian (Imperial) Police. It is not possible to pinpoint an exact date on which the Indian Police came formally into being. Around 1907, the Secretary of State's officers were directed to wear the letters "IP" on their epaulettes in order to distinguish them from the other officers not recruited by the Secretary of State through examination. In this sense, 1907 could be regarded as the starting point. In 1948, a year after India gained independence; the Imperial Police was replaced by IPS.
Objective
The First Police Commission, appointed on 17 August 1865, contained detailed guidelines for the desired system of police in India and defined the police as a governmental department to maintain order, enforce the law, and to prevent and detect crime. The Indian Police Service is not a force itself but a service providing leaders and commanders to staff the state police and all-India Central Armed Police Forces. Its members are the senior officers of the police. With the passage of time Indian Police Service's objectives were updated and redefined, the current roles and functions of an Indian Police Service Officer are as follows:
· To fulfil duties based on border responsibilities, in the areas of maintenance of public peace and order, crime prevention, investigation, and detection, collection of intelligence, VIP security, counter-terrorism, border policing, railway policing, tackling smuggling, drug trafficking, economic offences, corruption in public life, disaster management, enforcement of socio-economic legislation, bio-diversity and protection of environmental laws etc.
· Leading and commanding the Indian Intelligence Agencies like Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) etc., Indian Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, Civil and Armed Police Forces in all the states and union territories.
· Leading and commanding the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) which include the Central Police Organisations (CPO) such as Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Vigilance Organisations and Indian Federal Law Enforcement Agencies.
· To interact and coordinate closely with the members of other All India Services and with the Indian Revenue Service and also with the Indian Armed Forces primarily with the Indian Army.
· To lead and command the force with courage, uprightness, dedication and a strong sense of service to the people.
· Endeavor to inculcate in the police forces under their command such values and norms as would help them serve the people better.
· Inculcate integrity of the highest order, sensitivity to aspirations of people in a fast-changing social and economic milieu, respect for human rights, broad liberal perspective of law and justice and high standard of professionalism.