Kerala Police

The first police force in Travancore was established in 1809 under the name 'Kaval'. The foundations of modern police system came in 1835 in Travancore during the period of Swathi Thirunal. Travancore's Royal Nair Brigade (Earlier known as Travancore Army) was given the duty of keeping the internal law and order, by a special section called Sudarshana Sena (Guards). In 1881, the Sudarshana Sena was reorganised and a new Police Department known as Royal Travancore Police (RTP) came into force. Oliver. M. Bensly is the father of Travancore police and Modern Kerala Police. Royal Travancore Police was started under the leadership of O.M Bensly. O.M. Bensly became the first Superintendent of Police for the state of Travancore in 1881. The first Inspector General of Police of Travancore is Khan Bahadur Sayyid Abdul Karim Subrawardy (1938). Also a Police Department was setup in Cochin in 1884. The first Superintendent of Police of the Cochin State is George Gunther. The department is also known as Cochin State Royal Police (CSRP). The state of Cochin got its first Inspector General of Police (IGP) in 1942. The IGP of Malabar was based at Madras. After Indian Independence, N. Chandrasekharan Nair became the first Inspector General (IG) of Police. He took the responsibility on 21 August 1948. He also served as Inspector General of Police after the union of Travancore and Cochin, in 1952. He was later appointed as I.G after the formation of Kerala State in 1956. Kerala Police Act was enforced in 1960. The Headquarters of Kerala Police Department is at Thiruvananthapuram. The motto of the force is 'Mridhu bhava dhrida krthye' (in Sanskrit) which means 'soft in temperament, firm in action'. The Kerala Police Department is headed and controlled by Director General of Police (DGP). The first DGP of Kerala Police is T. Ananthsankar Iyer. The State Police Headquarters is the place of work of the State Police Chief.

Organisation of Force

The law and order forms the most important portion of state force's personnel. For this, The Police department is divided into 2 zone, the North zone and South zone, each headed by Additional Director General of Police. Each zone is split into two ranges, each of them are headed by Inspector General of police. Kannur Range and Thrissur Range comes under North Zone, whereas Ernakulam Range and Thiruvananthapuram Range comes under South Zone. The six commissionerate are Thiruvananthapuram City Police, Ernakulam City Police, Kozhikode City Police, Kollam City Police, Thrissur City Police and Kannur City Police. There are 20 police districts in total. Each police district is headed by a District Police Chief (DPC). The District Police Chief must be an officer holding the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) or higher. Each police district is divided into some subdivisions. A sub-division consists several Police Stations under its jurisdiction. The police officer in charge of a sub division is called Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO). Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) or an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) are posted as SDPOs. A Subdivision is further divided into Police Station areas, each of which is under an Inspector of Police designated as Station House Officer (SHO). 

Inspectors in charge of police stations are known as Inspector Station House Officers (ISHO). In small police stations sub-inspectors are appointed as Station House Officers. The Station House Officer is assisted by sub-inspectors of police, assistant sub-inspectors of police, senior civil police officers, and civil police officers. According to the data from Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), there are a total of 564 police stations in Kerala. Among them, 484 police stations deal with local law enforcement, while the remaining 80 are specialised for specific purposes. The specialized police stations include 14 women's police stations, 13 railway police stations, 18 coastal police stations, 19 cybercrime police stations, 1 crime branch police station, and 1 ATS police station.

Ranks of Kerala Police

■ Director General of Police & State Police Chief (DGP & SPC)

■ Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)

■ Inspector General of Police (IG)

■ Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)

■ Superintendent of Police (SP)

■ Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl.SP)

■ Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) [IPS]

■ Deputy Superintendent of Police (DYSP) [KPS]

■ Inspector of Police (IP)

■ Sub-Inspector of Police (SI)

■ Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police (ASI)

■ Head constable/Senior Civil Police Officer (SCPO)

■ Constable/Civil Police Officer (CPO)

The DGP and Additional DGPs are comparable in rank to a Lieutenant General in the army. The Inspector General is comparable to a Major General. The Deputy Inspector General is comparable to a Brigadier. Police Commissioner/SP are comparable to Colonel.

Specialised units under Kerala Police

1. Crime Branch

Crime Branch (Crime Branch - Criminal Investigation Department (CID)) investigates crimes. It is a state intelligence agency working under the state police force. The government or the courts can ask them to take over a case.

2. Special Branch

Special Branch (Special Branch - Criminal Investigation Department (CID)) is a state investigative agency working under the state police force. Their task is to monitor organizations and individuals that became a threat to national and state security, collect information, and conduct passport-related investigations.

3. Telecommunication Unit

The basic duties and responsibilities of Telecommunication Unit of Kerala police is to provide Telecommunication network to the day to day Policing in the Districts. They also maintain the equipment and to repair the same through regular monitoring. 

4. Finger Print Bureau

The Fingerprint Bureau is a major scientific investigation wing of the Kerala Police which assists various investigative agencies of the police force in the fight against criminal activities. They Collects evidence/prints from the scene of crime as per the request of the concerned SHOs. Identifies the prints as belonging to the criminals. Provides expert opinions before the court.

5. Kerala Railway Police

The responsibility of the Railway Police of Kerala is to maintain law and order, prevent and detect crime on the railway system and railway stations in Kerala.

6. State Crime Records Bureau

The Criminal Intelligence Bureau, also called as Kerala State Crime Records Bureau manages and study crime statistics in kerala.

7. Forensic Science Laboratory

A well equipped Forensic Science Lab was functioning in the Kerala Police Headquarters campus since 1961. The Forensic Lab at Thiruvananthapuram has 11 divisions such as Ballistics, Biology, Serology, Chemistry, Explosives, DNA, Documents, Cyber Forensics, Documents-Civil, Physics and Polygraph.

8. Thunderbolts Kerala

It is the elite commando unit of Kerala Police. It performs perilous counter-terrorism, jungle-warfare, and hostage-rescue operations. Thunderbolts are a form of SPG and NSG, which are trained to take on air, water and land attacks.

9. Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell (HTCEC)

HTCEC is situated at Kerala Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram district. The HTCEC was constituted on 5th May, 2006. Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell is an official cell managing Cyber Crime cases and other technical crimes.

10. Cyber Crime Police Station 

Cyber Crime Police Station have jurisdiction all over the state of Kerala. It investigates any offense committed under the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 (Central Act 21 of 2000). The Hi-Tech Cell is working as the Petition Enquiry Branch for the Cyber Police Station. The first Cyber Police Station of Kerala is Trivandrum.

11. Highway Police & Highway Alert System 

Highway Police & Highway Alert System was introduced in the Kerala Police in 2002.

12. Anti Piracy Cell

Anti Piracy Cell was formed by Kerala Police in 2011.

13. Police Bands

There are 8 Police Bands in the States. Seven of them are with the 7 Battalions of Armed Police whereas one Band is with AR Camp of Thiruvananthapuram City.

14. Dog Squad 

Kerala Police has an exclusive Dog Squad situated at Thiruvananthapuram.

15. Coastal Police Stations

Kerala Police maintains 18 Coastal Police Stations in Kerala. Coastal Police Stations will fundamentally handles the security of the coasts and carry out the patrolling in the sea up to 5 nautical miles. The cases reported on the sea (in the Territorial Waters) will be investigated by the Coastal Police.

Training Section of Kerala Police

1. Kerala Police Academy

Kerala Police Academy is the largest police training centre in Asia. Kerala Police Academy (Ramavarmapuram, Thrissur) was established in the year 2004. The Academy conducts long-term courses for SI, constable, women constable, police drivers and constables for kerala police telecommunication wing. The academy also conducts short-term and in-service courses for various ranks. 

2. Police Training College

Police Training College located at Trivandrum was begun in 1958. The head of Police Training College is Principal in the rank of Superintendent of Police.

Janamaithri Suraksha Project

The Janamaithri Suraksha Project is a community policing initiative of the Government of Kerala. The project was launched by the Kerala Police in 2008 to prevent crimes with the cooperation of the public. The project aims at improving police-public cooperation.

Armed Battalions of Kerala Police

1. Special Armed Police, Thiruvananthapuram

The Special Armed Police Battalion was formed on 5th August 1958 from the Erst-while General Armed Reserve of Travancore- Cochin State

2. Malabar Special Police, Malappuram

The second oldest Para Military force in India is Malabar Special Police (MSP). In 1884, a special punitive force was organized by British Army known as Malabar Special Police-1 (MSP). Later in 1921, Malabar Special Police-2 was organised. The first Commandant of MSP is Hitchcock. In 1956, Malabar Special Police was split into two parts, one going to Madras State and the other coming to Kerala. Today, the Malabar Special Police (MSP) is an armed battalion of the State Police of Kerala.

3. Kerala Armed Police (KAP) - I, Thrissur

It acts as a reserve force for the deployment of armed police battalions whenever the district police is short of manpower in maintaining law and order.

4. Kerala Armed Police – II : Palakkad

5. Kerala Armed Police – III : Adoor, Kollam

6. Kerala Armed Police – IV : Kannur

7. Kerala Armed Police - V : Kuttikanam

8. Rapid Response and Rescue Force - RRRF (Pandikkad)

9. India Reserve Battalion - IRBn (Thrissur)

10. State Industrial Security Force -SISF(Thiruvananthapuram)

11. Armed Women Police Battalion