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Sher-I-Kashmir Police Academy at Udhampur was established as Police Training College in the year 1981 and upgraded to the level of Academy in April 1998. The Academy runs induction courses for Dy.SsP, Prosecuting Officers and Sub-Inspectors of Armed and Executive Police, besides promotion courses for SgCt's, Head Constables and ASI's. The Academy also runs 31 specialised courses for various ranks.
There is nothing on record to show that a regular Police Force existed in Jammu and Kashmir state prior to 1872- the year when a major sectarian clash necessitated the same. Thakur Kahan Singh Billawaria has recorded the following in his book Biography of Maharaja Ranbir Singh: “In the beginning, a Police Station was established in each Tehsil. AftelWards, Police Chowkies known as Police Station Grade-II were also established The Grade-I Police Stations were manned by Deputy Inspector, popularly known as Subedars, and Grade-II Police Stations were officered by Sergeants, popularly known as Thanedars. The Wazarat level Police Officer was known as Kumedan ( Commandant) and Province had an officer of the rank of Superintendent.” “For authentic information on policing in the state before 1872, we may turn to the account left behind by Major Charles Ellison Bates, who enjoys the distinction of having compiled the first-ever Gazetteer of Jammu and Kashmir State during Maharaja Ranbir Singh's reign (1857-1885). In his words: " The Harkara is a police constable; there is one Harkara's house to about every 20 villages; all the male members of his family being also Harkaras. He received reports and gave directions to the Dum or policeman of whom there is one to every village, the inhabitants of which are obliged to provide his maintenance. As all these officials have to be supported by the peasantry, a heavy burden is thereby inflicted on the people". About city police he writes, “The following are the different grades of the City Police. There is a policeman or myleader under him; he reports to the Sub- Kotwal, the Sub-Kotwal to the Head- Kotwal and the last named functionary to the City Judge, The City Judge, one a Pandit and the other a Mohammedan”. As we proceed ahead in time, clear contours of growth ,development and continuous evolution become discernible in Jammu and Kashmir Police as an organisation.
What we see is a continuing growth, just commensurate with the existing needs of those times. The years that followed were the years of social instability thus putting onerous responsibilities on the Police organisation. This required adequate strengthening of manpower, training and specialisation. Coupled with the challenges thrown up by the division of the country, particularly the vivisection of the state by tribal invasion, were political fluidity and social unrest that gripped the state and its people. Simultaneously, the dawn of Independence had brought with it a message of happiness and had generated new hopes of progress and development in the state. All this required a strong, committed and dedicated governance of the state which was possible only with the active participation of the state police. Simultaneously, Pakistan was never tired of fomenting social unrest in Kashmir and remained unifocal in making desperate efforts to wrest the control of the state from India. In its futile bid to grab Kashmir it launched two full scale wars against India- in 1965 and 1971 respectively. On both these occasions Pakistan succeeded in getting nothing but humiliation and defeat. Again, the services of Jammu and Kashmir Police in tiding through turbulence and turmoil ca.used by these two wars in quick succession, shall always be remembered with honour and admiration. There were many a bold officer and jawan who rendered selfless service to the people and society and didn't hesitate to sacrifice their lives in keeping with thenoble and valiant traditions of this pioneering police force of the country. Year 1989 may be taken as the most crucial year in the history of evolution of Jammu and Kashmir Police. It was during this year that a new warfare was slapped on Kashmir by our neighbour. Call it by whatever name you will, but it was terror in all its nakedness that Pakistan resorted to 'to bleed India white' by 'thousand cuts' in furtherance of what is now notoriously known as ' Operation Topac'. Under this strategy, Pakistan started sending armed terrorists to Kashmir in order to subvert democratic institutions in the state and to destabilise the governance of the state by killing prominent politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats and intellectuals. Taking full advantage of the vast chunk of unemployed youth and the rampant backwardness and illiteracy of masses, the perpetrators of terror found the right kind of ground for whipping up the communal passions of the people in order to promote and strengthen the feelings secession and separatism. The atmosphere of the state was so vitiated that a democratically elected government was compelled to resign. All political activity in the state came to a standstill. The entire valley drowned into grief and despair and groaned under the onslaught of terror. Education of children got disrupted, business and trade got a severe jolt, tourism nose-dived, safety and security of people became uncertain, bridges and schools were set afire. In short, the entire fabric of civic life was disturbed. During these tumultuous times, the state police fully realised its role and responsibility. It took the challenge with courage, fortitude and resolve and jumped into the fray with all its might. Barely 7 years after, in 1996, it was in command of the situation and succeeded in successfully conduction elections to the state assembly whic~ made it possible to re-install a democratically elected government in the state. It was re-assertion of state authority and a signal to all the negative forces that problems have to be deliberated upon and their solutions found out not through the barrel of the gun but across the negotiation table. More recently, in November, 2002, elections were again held in the state under appropriate police bandobast and a new coalition government is already in place. The successful conduct of these elections, which have been hailed world over as highly transparent, is just one more feather for the highly honoured Jammu & Kashmir Police.Just to know how strong we have grown over the years, following data about the strength and budgetary provisions for Jammu & Kashmir Police for the year 2003 are considered pertinent to furnish: Sanctioned Strength of J&K Police as on 01-01-2003
Budget allocation under major head 2055-Police as on 01-01-2003
a) Executive Police- Primarily engaged in prevention and detection of Crime through various Police Stations in the state. b) Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police-Primarily engaged in maintenance of law and order. c) Auxiliary Police-Primarily engaged in law and order duties. d) Traffic Police-Regulation of surface transport. e) CID- Collecting vital intelligence. f) Security-Providing security to VVIPs, VIPs and vital installations g) Vigilance Organization- Dealing with corruption and other such offences. h) Crime and Railways-Dealing with specified Crime and the cases referred to it by the Government and looking after Railway security. i) Fire Services-Looking after the incidence of fires and fighting out the same. j) Prisons k) Police Workshop l) Telecommunication m) Housing Corporation If we compare the above picture with the picture of the past, a growing concern for specialization is conspicuously visible as policing as profession acquires more and more complexity. Newer challenges confronting the police force, as elsewhere in the country, have necessitated advanced training skills, introduction of sophisticated weaponry particularly in the wake of unleashing of terror on the state by our neighbour, acquisition of advanced equipments of telecommunication, ensuring quicker mobility, designing training programmes to answer our ever changing needs, sensitizing the entire force about the need of protecting human rights, employing high-tech methods in investigative work in order to make it foolproof and sacrosanct in the eyes of laws, tackling such new challenges as organized & Cyber Crime. As we are trying to come up to the various challenges facing us, the future may have many more challenges to offer as we march ahead in time. What we treat as adequate and up-to- date today may become outdated and redundant tomorrow. When future generations look back at us they may have their own opinions about us. What is central is that all of us have certain sets of duties and responsibilities assigned to us and our estimation as a collective organisation will largely depend on how well we did them. We are inheritors of a certain system, ethos, values and traditions which we are supposed to protect, preserve and pass on to posterity. If only we succeeded in doing so, our job will have been successfully executed. They too marched who lived in the past, we too are marching ahead with firmness and commitment and the coming generation will come and take charge from the present one. The March must go on, and go on it will ! The Academy is 3 Kms south of Udhampur town near village Badali. Udhampur is 65 Kms from Jammu on Jammu-Srinagar NHW and public transport is available for reaching Udhampur from Jammu or Srinagar. During summer, Udhampur is comparatively hot and temperature touches 40 C but it is otherwise pleasant during the year. The winter from December to February is severe & woolens are required. |
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