Law & Order & Civil Defence in Uttar Pradesh | Course for UPPSC Preparation - UPPSC (UP) PDF Download

Introduction

• In politics, law and order (also known as tough on crime and the War on Crime ) refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through stricter criminal penalties. These penalties may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws, and in some countries, capital punishment.
• Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from military attacks and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation and recovery. Programs of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in some countries during the 1930s as the threat of war and aerial bombardment grew. It became widespread after the threat of nuclear weapons was realized.
• The Uttar Pradesh Police,often abbreviated as UP police, is the law enforcement agency of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh headquartered in Allahabad. The Uttar Pradesh Police is headed by a director general of police (DGP) ranked IPS officer. The current DG of Uttar Pradesh Police is Om Prakash Singh.  UP police is the largest police force in the world. It was formed in 1863 as the Office of the inspector general of police, Uttar Pradesh under the Police Act, 1861. Uttar police is the governed by Department of Home and Confidential of Uttar Pradesh Government.
• A director general of police heads the state police. He is assisted by many police officers. State police headquarters is situated in Allahabad.  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. The following is the list of the police zones.
• 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. Each police range is constituted by around 2 to 4 districts.  There are totally 75 police districts in the state. In each district the head of the police is the superintendent of police who is always an officer of the Indian police Service. In discharge of his duties he is assisted by Additional superintendents of police (Addl. S.P.), deputy superintendents of police (Dy. S.P.) who are officers of the Provincial Police Service. The number of Addl. SPs and Dy. SPs varies with the size, population, police work or nature of police work in different districts. The number of Addl.S.Ps and Dy.S.Ps in districts like Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Meerut, Allahabad is considerably more than other districts. Whereas in smaller districts like Baghpat, Kannauj, Mahoba, Chandauli the number of the PPS officers is relatively lesser.

The various units/wings of the UP police are:

• Training Directorate Criminal Investigation Department (CID)
• Special Enquiry Cell Anti Corruption Organization (ACO)
• Human Rights Cell (HRC)
• Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)
• Intelligence Department (ID)
• Economic Offences Wing (EOW)
• Crime Cell Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT)
• Technical Services

Current Situation of Law and Order in Uttar Pradesh

• Acting on the key promises made by the BJP in its manifesto, the Uttar Pradesh home department has written to all districts in the state to furnish reports on the extent of migration of people due to communal tensions as well as compile a list of all pending corruption probes over the past 15.
• UP has also decided to appoint chief vigilance officers in all government departments to check corruption – it was pointed out at the recent meeting that while such orders were issued earlier in the previous dispensation.
• Organised Crime run by criminal syndicate ( i.e gangsters) has reduced due to massive drive against them. However, UP is a the the key badlands of India, so this will need to be done on a sustainable basis.Petty crime has not improved much, since many people in UP feel that indulging in petty crime is their birthright.