BENGALURU: Bengaluru City Police (BCP) is likely to be split into five divisions on the lines of Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). According to placed sources, city police have submitted a draft proposal on the guidelines proposed by the government, to reorganise BCP on the five municipal corporations of the GBA, for improved efficiency in crime control and maintaining law and order.
Under the proposal dated August 1, the city police will be divided into five divisions -- Central, North, South, East and West -- under a Chief Commissioner (CC) of the rank of director general of police.
The commissioners, of the rank of inspector general of police (IGP) or deputy inspector general of police (DIGP), will report to the CC. They will monitor and control crime and maintain law and order in their divisions.
Besides the five CoPs, special units -- Central Crime Bureau (CCB), one additional CP/Joint CP each for Intelligence, crime (including cyber crime police station), administration, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), VVIP security, and one CP, Traffic, will be under the CC.
Each division, barring East, will have three DCPs for law and order and one for traffic. All five divisions will include a Women and Cyber, Economic and Narcotic (CEN) offences police station each. The total cost of revamping BCP is reportedly pegged at over Rs 764 crore.
Home Minister Priyank Kharge told TNIE that with rapid urbanisation and growth of the city, there is a need to improve policing mechanisms accordingly, to curb crime and maintain law and order.
“There are plans to revamp the BCP because the city has expanded manifold and there is increase in crime, but there is no concrete proposal as yet. There is a process in place which needs to be followed. There has to be consultation with senior police officers and all other stakeholders, including MLAs. The finer details will have to be looked into and worked out. The Chief Minister will take the final call,” said Kharge.
Restructuring of BCP, now spread over 800sqkm with 118 police stations, has been under consideration for a long time but with the expanding city and burgeoning population, it has become a necessity. Bengaluru is the only remaining metro in the country which has not yet redesigned its police commissionerate, despite being the nerve centre of new and global economy in India.
Some ex-IPS officers expressed concern over revamping BCP on the lines of GBA, and said the function of the police differs from the municipal body. “Unlike the GBA, police have specific functions. The five police commissioners will do the job of a DCP. Splitting the city police into five divisions will dilute the authority of the chief commissioner, lead to overlap of jurisdiction and lack of accountability. Reform the BCP to keep pace with the city’s growth and needs. Instead of five, the BCP can be ideally split into two or three divisions, maintaining geographical contiguity,” said veteran police officers, who didn’t wish to be named.
