5 commissionerates, 6,633 posts: Karnataka gives in-principle nod to split Bengaluru police

The announcement to split the 63-year-old police commissionerate into smaller units is likely to be made during the Independence Day speech of D K Shivakumar on August 15, sources said.

The ambitious proposal is seen as a key project of the Congress government and in continuation of Shivakumar’s efforts to create a Greater Bengaluru Authority with five civic units instead of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

“There is no finality as yet. The proposal has come before the government,” government sources said.

Further to the preliminary nod on Wednesday for the proposal for dividing the Bengaluru police commissionerate into five smaller units, the state police headquarters began consultations with city police officials on Thursday on the proposal.

“There is a proposal; how it will be executed will be known only when the final orders are issued,” sources in the state police department said.

While the Karnataka Police Department has not opposed the government’s plan to split the Bengaluru police commissionerate along the lines of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), there is a section within the force that believes a smaller number of sub-units would ensure smoother administration. Officials have expressed concerns that multiple adjacent commissionerates could lead to jurisdictional disputes and complications in command structures, particularly while handling law and order issues.

There are also reservations over the proposal to create a Super City Commissioner post of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP). At present, the Bengaluru Police Commissioner, an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)-rank officer, reports to the state’s head of police force, who holds the rank of DGP.

Under the proposed structure, five city police commissioners of Inspector General of Police (IGP) or Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) rank would report to the DGP-rank Chief Commissioner. The city would have 28 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) working under the five commissioners, compared to the current arrangement of 18 DCPs under one commissioner and two additional/joint commissioners.

The proposal to appoint five commissioners and increase the number of DCPs to 28 has raised concerns among some police officials, who feel the structure could become unwieldy for managing law and order in Bengaluru.

Reason for splitting Bengaluru commissionerate

The primary reason cited for dividing the Bengaluru city police commissionerate is the rapid expansion of the city, which now covers nearly 1,294 sq km. This is significantly larger than the original area of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the core metropolitan region for which the Bengaluru police commissionerate was established in 1963, spanning just 712.54 sq km.

The proposal, signed on August 1 and later made public, stated that following the division of the BBMP into five municipalities and the creation of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), coordination between civic bodies and the police has become challenging due to overlapping jurisdictions.

“At present, the police commissionerate unit is functioning under the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat and Town Panchayat, not under the jurisdiction of the Greater Bangalore Authority,” says the new proposal for the Bengaluru police.

“Bangalore city has a population of about 1 crore 56 lakhs and is one of the fastest developing cities in the world. Bangalore city has the highest number of crime cases and cyber crimes per capita and is the most congested city in the world,” the proposal states.

The system, according to the proposal, is aimed at managing crime cases and traffic congestion in a coordinated manner, and the post of police commissioner will be upgraded to the post of chief police commissioner to strengthen the police system.

Leaving behind ‘a legacy for Bengaluru’

Although Karnataka CM Shivakumar has not publicly spoken about the proposal, he had hinted about it during the creation of the GBA amidst opposition from civic groups.

“I have taken up the responsibility of Bengaluru development to bring change. I would like to leave behind a legacy for Bengaluru. We have taken up many projects which will change the face of the city,” Shivakumar said last year during a meeting with apartment owners’ associations.

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has said that the proposal for the changes in the Bengaluru police structure is still in a conceptual stage. “The matter has not yet been discussed in detail with the relevant stakeholders. The chief minister has, however, directed the Home Department to examine and propose more effective and efficient measures to strengthen policing and improve police governance in Bengaluru,” he said.

Bengaluru civic polls by year-end

The Congress government, which has in recent times been seeking postponement of the Bengaluru civic polls that are overdue since September 2020 on the grounds of the creation of the GBA, has now assured the Supreme Court that the polls will be held by the end of the current year. The administrative revamp of the Bengaluru civic administration and the police unit are expected to be a centrepiece of the Congress party’s city reform claims in the run-up to the local polls.