PUDUCHERRY POLICE

PUDUCHERRY POLICE

The French were the last of the European powers to establish their trade stations in India. They came to Surat in 1666 after obtaining an imperial firman from the Moghul Emperor Aurangazeb. Wandering from the West to the East they finally established themselves in a village on the Coromandel Coast in 1674, with the permission of Sher Khan Lodi a governor of the Bijapur Sultan. With this foothold on the East Coast, which became their main stay over the next 280 years, the French dreams of an Indian Empire began and ended - there in Pondicherry. The ‘Nayinar’ was the native chieftain responsible for the maintenance of law and order, holding the office by hereditary rights. Under this local chieftain were functionaries with varied designations - like ‘Paleyagars’ (petty chieftains) and ‘Thalavayes’ (sub-Inspector), to ‘Bechecars’ equated in rank almost on par with the Nayinar under the French. The Corps of Sipayes was reorganised in 1773. In 1906 the strength of the police force was reduced and the abolition of the 'Cipahis de I'Inde' in the following year. A 1922 notification thereafter designates the head of the police force as Chef du Service de Police et de la Surete-indicating thereby the introduction of the Special Branch and the Security Police. After the merger in 1954 the entire police force was placed under the command of an Inspector General of Police, under the rank of a Superintendent of Police in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The emblem of the Pudhucherry Police has its acronym ‘PP’ in red inscribed within the blue laurels and Ashoka Lion Pillar in blue as crest. At the bottom on a red colour banner the words  ‘Puducherry Police’ in white is is written in a red banner.