JAMMU AND KASHMIR POLICE

JAMMU AND KASHMIR POLICE

The police, in Jammu and Kashmir according to Sir Walter Lawrence, constituted of 1000 village watchmen or ‘Chowkidars’. They were mostly drawn from the ‘Doom’ caste of the population known for their excellent detection and transmission of intelligence. It was in the year 1873 A.D. that formal police force came into existence with one Police officer Known as ‘Kotwal’ and 14 ‘Thanedars’ for Srinagar City. This nuclear force would control crime and take care of Law and order situations with help of ‘Chowkidars’ and ‘Harkars’. Prithinandan Singh was the first Indian Police chief who took over on June 1, 1946. The strength of Police in J and K in the year 1889-90 was just 1040, which rose to 1570 in the year 1903 and forty years later, in 1943-44, the strength of J and K Police was 3179 and its strength has gone to more than 83000 strong at present. The emblem of the Jammu and Kashmir Police shows acronym ‘J&K’ on the ribbon below is written ‘POLICE’. This rests on a pair of crossing kifes and at the top is the national emblemm of India. On both the sides is a garland of five chinar leaves.