Police Services : Introduction

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The Police force in any country is entrusted with the responsibility of maintenance of public order and prevention and detection of crimes. A career in Police or Law Enforcement Service holds huge prospects for courageous and dedicated candidates. The constant increase in crime rates, and the resulting security conscious society, has increased the demand for police jobs in India and across the world. It has opened a lot of opportunities for those who are ready to serve the country as police force.

IPS is the premier and apex police service of the country. The Indian Police Service (IPS) is one of the three All India Services. The other two are the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS). The Indian Police Service (IPS) was formed in the year of 1948 under the cadre Ministry of Home Affairs.

There are two ways of getting into IPS (i) passing Civil Service Exam (ii) promotion from state cadre police service. A candidate recruited in the IPS has to undergo a tough schedule of training at the Police Academy, and within 4 to 5 years one can expect to be the Superintendent of Police or Deputy Commissioner of Police. IPS Officers, in due course of service may expect to rise to the levels of Director General of Police in a State or DG of any other Central para-military force. Entry into IPS is through the All-India Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission.

After IPS comes the State Police Service (SPS). Police is a state subject under the constitution of India, and every state and union territory has its own Police Forceheaded by a Director General of Police (DGP). The recruitment to SPS is also on the same pattern as that for IPS. The only difference is that the recruitment of SPS officers is made by the State Public Service Commission concerned, through usually a combined competitive examination for State Civil Services. However, in case of Union Territory, recruitment to SPS is also made by Union Public Service Commission through the Civil Services Examination as one of the Group-B Services. The candidates selected for the State Police Service (SPS) are usually posted as Deputy Superintendents of Police (Deputy SP) or Asstt. Commissioner of Police (ACP). On prescribed satisfactory service in the SPS, the officers are nominated to the IPS.

Almost all the States have Subordinate Police Services under which recruitment is made to the posts of Asst. Sub-Inspector (ASI), Sub-Inspector (SI) and Inspectors of Police. In addition to the regular police force, Indian Police Service has various para-military forces or central organisations like the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Bureau of Investigation, Indo-Tibetan Border force, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Security Guards, Railway Protection Force (RPF) etc.