In the good old times, the Police, as per Sir Walter Lawrence, constituted of 1000 village watchmen or “Chowkidars” who were known for their vigilant and inquisitorial abilities. They were mostly drawn from the “Doom” caste of the population known for their excellent detection and transmission of intelligence. It was in the year 1873 AD that formal Police force came into existence with one Police officer Known as Kotwal and 14 Thanedars for Srinagar City. This nuclear force would control crime and take care of Law and order situations with help of Chowkidars and “Harkars”, who were paid by the population out of their annual agricultural produce on a voluntary basis.
It was in 1913 that the state requisitioned the service of an Imperial Police officer on deputation and appointed Mr Broadway as the first Inspector General of Police in June, 1913. He continued to be Police chief up to 1917 and was followed by other IP officers. Between 1913 and 1947, the State Saw only one India Police chief of J&K State in Col Gandharab Singh, between 1927 to 1931:. All others, 10 in all were IP Officers Prithinandan Singh was the first Indian Police chief who took over on Ist June 1946.
Since then the Police in J&K has undergone several re-organizations, The strength of Police in J&K in the year 1889-90 was just 1040, which further rose to 1570 in the year 1903 and forty years later, in 1943-44, the strength of J&K Police was 3179 its strength has gone to more than 83000 strong at present.
