Uttar Pradesh Police
The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the "Police Act, 1861".It is headed by Director General of Police (DGP). Uttar Pradesh Police is one of the oldest police departments in the Republic of India, and is the largest police force in the world, having about 74 district police department (excluding 4 commissionerates) in it. The Uttar Pradesh Police is headquartered at Signature Building, Gomti Nagar Extension in Lucknow . The Uttar Pradesh Police employ around 1,368 gazetted officers, and 231,443 non gazetted uniformed officers. Uttar Pradesh Police is governed by the Department of Home and Confidential of Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh Police is headed by the Director General of Police (DGP) for the state of Uttar Pradesh, who is the highest-ranking (DG) IPS officer of the state cadre. UP Police is the first Indian state police agency to have a highway patrol Unit, the UP Highway Police (UPHP). History. The present police system in the country was created following the recommendation of the Police Commission headed by  Mr. H.M. Court in 1860, which led to the enactment of the Police Act of 1861 that is in force even today. The same Mr. Court became the first Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the then North West Province and Avadh which comprised the territory of the present state of Uttar Pradesh. The Police structure was erected in the form of the following eight organizations: The Civil Police too continued to grow and Mr. B.N. Lahiri was the first Indian Inspector General of Police of Uttar Pradesh after independence. The performance of the state police in the spheres of  Crime control and maintenance of law and order was highly appreciated, due to which it had the proud privilege of being the first police force in the country to receive the President's Color on 13th November, 1952 by the then Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Various specialized wings of the U.P. police have since come into existence for combating organized crimes, economic offences, terrorism, etc.. Organization and structure. A Director General of Police (DGP) heads the state police. He is assisted by many police officers. State police headquarters is situated in Lucknow. For the purpose of maintaining  law and order in the state, the state of Uttar Pradesh is divided into 8 police zones. Each zone is headed by an officer of the rank of additional director general of police who is an officer of the Indian police Service. Each police zone is constituted by 2 to 3 police ranges. There are a total of 18 police ranges in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Each range is headed by an officer of the rank of either inspector general of police or deputy inspector general of police which corresponds with the administrative division. Each police range is constituted  by around 2 to 4 districts. District Police Units. There are a total of 74 district police units in the state. In each district (except Lucknow (City), Gautam Buddha Nagar, Kanpur Nagar and Varanasi), the head of the police is the SP or SSP. In the discharge of his duties he is assisted by Superintendent of Police (SP), Deputy Superintendent of Police (Deputy SP) or Assistant Superintendent of Police who may either be the officers of the Provincial Police Service or Indian Police Service. The number of SPs and Deputy SPs varies with the size, population, police work, or nature  of police work in different districts. The number of SPs and Dy.SPs in districts like Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Meerut, Prayagraj is considerably more than other districts. Whereas in smaller districts like Baghpat, Kannauj, Mahoba, Chandauli the number of the PPS officers is relatively lesser. Typically, a police district in the state corresponds with the administrative district. Though, the head of the police force in the district is the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)/Superintendent of police (SP), who is always an officer of the Indian Police Service, the ultimate/final responsibility with regard to the maintenance of  the law and order in the district lies with the district magistrate who is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. The police district is further subdivided into police sub-divisions or police circles. A police circle is usually headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Superintendent of Police. The officer heading the police circle/sub-division is designated as the Circle Officer (C.O.) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A police circle is usually constituted by 2 to 4 police stations. Each police station is headed by a police inspector. Throughout the  state of Uttar Pradesh and other states, especially in North India, there is the main police station in the older/ main part of the city known as the Kotwali. The Kotwali covers the main or usually the older part of the town/city under its jurisdiction. Earlier, when the cities and towns were smaller and had a lesser population than at present and they hadn't grown in size so much, Kotwali covered the main town area of the cities or the districts. A police station is also called as a thana in the local language. The officer in charge  of a police station is designated as or called as the station officer (S.O.) or station house officer (S.H.O). He is assisted by various sub-inspectors, head-constables, constables. There are also a number of police chowkis that come under the police station. A police chowki is under the charge of a sub-inspector of police. The regular constabulary carries the bulk of normal beat policing and patrolling. Commissionerates. There are currently 4 police commissionerates under UP Police - In the police commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) in the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) heads the  district police department or commissionerate. In Lucknow (City), the CP is assisted by 2 Joint Commissioners of Police (JCPs) in the rank of IG, and in Gautam Buddh Nagar, the commissioner is assisted by 2 Additional Commissioners (Addl. CPs) in the rank of DIG who look after Law and order while other looks into Crime & Headquarters. Under them, there is a team of IPS & PPS officers who are posted as DCPs and ACPs. Three DCPs are posted in a zone. One DCP's insignia is the state emblem above one star, who is senior to the other two DCPs, whose  insignia is one state emblem only. Under the DCPs work ACPs, who are the chiefs of various circles. They are vested with the powers of the executive magistrate for criminal cases. Police Commissionerates are independent of zonal & range police chiefs supervision. They are also vested with powers of an executive magistrate under various acts. Technology. Facial recognition system. UP police uses a database of 500,000+ criminals with facial recognition technology in its "Trinetra" face identification system. Social media research center. A social media command and research center has been established in Meerut. The center monitors trends in social media  that can have an impact on law & order situation and advise concerned district and range police chiefs. Firearms. Most of the weapons in service with the Uttar Pradesh Police are locally produced by the Indian ordnance factories controlled by the Ordnance Factories Board, the police also induct various weapons imported by the Ministry of Home Affairs as part of modernization plans. As per the 2017 audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Uttar Pradesh Police has a shortage of 45,047 handguns and an excess of 56,298 rifles. 48%, 58,853, of the 1.22 lakh (122,000) rifles available to the  state police are of point-303 bore category, which was rendered obsolete by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1995. Weapons of the UP Police also include: Corruption and misconduct. The Uttar Pradesh Police has an extensive history of police brutality, misconduct, and corruption, as well as discrimination on the basis of caste and religion. Corruption in hiring. In 2007, 18,000 police officers were fired as they were hired despite being unqualified for the job. These new recruits were illiterates who bribed between ₹100,000 and ₹500,000 to cheat in the UP police entrance tests. Fake encounters. In 2018 India  Today carried out an investigative piece reporting incidents of UP police framing innocent people and killing them in staged encounters for money and promotions. A sub-inspector had allegedly offered to gun down an innocent civilian for around Rs 8 lakh. Between 2015–2018, 211 complaints of fake encounters were filed in India out of which 39 were on UP police. In 2012, 17 UP police personnel were given life term for killing an incontinent 24-year-old man in a 1992 fake encounter and later they branded the victim as a terrorist. Atrocities against minority. UP Police has allegedly been  accused of unlawful politically motivated killing of Muslims and Dalits. In six cases examined by the Guardian of deaths in custody and police shootings of suspects, allegedly in self defence, from 2018 onwards, those accused of carrying out and covering up killings are the same. The victims of these alleged unlawful killings were all from the communities that UP government, with its sectarian Hindu nationalist agenda, is accused of routinely targeting and oppressing the muslims. Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UP-PAC), has been alleged to be involved in number of human rights violation cases against muslim minority while includes , The UP PAC was implicated in horrors across UP in the 1970s and ‘80s ranging from Firozabad (1972), Muzaffarnagar (1975), Sultanpur (1976), Sambhal (1978), Aligarh (1978 and 1980), Moradabad (1980), Meerut (1982, 1986 and 1987), Bahraich (1983), Mau (1983), Pilibhit (1986), Bara Banki (1986) and Allahabad (1986). Others. In 2020, Uttar Pradesh government started an operation to screen allegedly corrupt police officials who will be forced to take retirement. In the 2020 Hathras gang rape and murder, UP Police forcibly cremated the body of the victim girl without the consent of her family. The station house officer was transferred for  his "failure to promptly act" in the case.