Guwahati, Oct 2 : With growth of insurgency, the role of the police personnel changed a great deal over the years since the formation of the force by the British rulers and according to records available, as many as 42 police personnel lost their lives while fighting terrorists during the period from 2004 to August 15 this year. The strength of the force, which started with only around 750 personnel, also increased considerably with the growth of population and crime rates and the present sanctioned strength of the force is of 64,792 personnel. However, because of the failure of the Government to fill up the vacant posts, 54,458 personnel are now working in the force and official sources said that steps have already been initiated to fill up the vacant posts.
The Assam Police has come a long way since the days of the British rulers, who formed the police force and the growth of insurgency has added new dimension to the job profile of the police personnel. In recent years, a number of steps have been taken on the modernization of the police force and the Central Government has also extended its help in this regard to enable the force to deal with the present day situation.
The British rulers, who took over Assam in 1826, raised the Cachar Levy in 1835 to guard the new settlements and tea estates. The force, headed by a civil service officer, had only around 750 personnel. Three years later, a similar force, Jorhat Militia was created to protect the border areas. Subsequently, both the forces were merged.
The Police Act of 1861 was introduced in Assam in 1862 and the CRPC code was also made effective in the State in the same year. Under the Police Act, eleven police districts were created. Those were – Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Garo Hills, Khasi and Jayantia Hills, Naga Hills, Cachar and Sylhet. The Police administration of the State was run from Shillong at that time. For better administration, the British rulers divided the police force into four branches- civil police, municipal police, frontier police and rural police, while the criminal investigation department was set up in 1913.
The first IGP of the Assam Police in the post independence era was JE Raid, who served as the IGP from 1947 to 1950 and the first person of Indian origin to take over as the IGP was KR Choudhury, who took over on October 1, 1951 and that is why October 1 is observed as the Assam Police Day every year.
The Assam Police has come a long way since the days of the British rulers, who formed the police force and the growth of insurgency has added new dimension to the job profile of the police personnel. In recent years, a number of steps have been taken on the modernization of the police force and the Central Government has also extended its help in this regard to enable the force to deal with the present day situation.
The British rulers, who took over Assam in 1826, raised the Cachar Levy in 1835 to guard the new settlements and tea estates. The force, headed by a civil service officer, had only around 750 personnel. Three years later, a similar force, Jorhat Militia was created to protect the border areas. Subsequently, both the forces were merged.
The Police Act of 1861 was introduced in Assam in 1862 and the CRPC code was also made effective in the State in the same year. Under the Police Act, eleven police districts were created. Those were – Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Garo Hills, Khasi and Jayantia Hills, Naga Hills, Cachar and Sylhet. The Police administration of the State was run from Shillong at that time. For better administration, the British rulers divided the police force into four branches- civil police, municipal police, frontier police and rural police, while the criminal investigation department was set up in 1913.
The first IGP of the Assam Police in the post independence era was JE Raid, who served as the IGP from 1947 to 1950 and the first person of Indian origin to take over as the IGP was KR Choudhury, who took over on October 1, 1951 and that is why October 1 is observed as the Assam Police Day every year.
