Bengaluru’s policing system will be divided into five separate commissionerates after the Karnataka Cabinet approved a restructuring aimed at improving law and order, crime control, traffic management and public safety across the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) area.
The proposed commissionerates will cover the eastern, western, northern, southern and central parts of the city. Bengaluru currently has a single city police commissionerate, with the entire urban area under the supervision of one police commissioner.
Under the approved structure, the existing police commissioner’s post will be upgraded to chief police commissioner. The post of joint police commissioner for traffic will also be renamed police commissioner (traffic), according to the report published by Prajavani.
The Cabinet has approved the creation of 1,022 new posts required for the five commissionerates. The state Finance Department has agreed to the creation of these posts, which will support the proposed reorganisation of policing across the GBA jurisdiction.
The restructuring is also expected to involve the redeployment of existing personnel. Sources cited in the report said that a total of 6,550 posts would be required for crime-case management, traffic congestion control and public safety. The additional requirement will be met through a combination of newly created posts and the redistribution of posts already in the police system.
The change comes as policing responsibilities are being aligned with the administrative area covered by the Greater Bengaluru Authority. The approved arrangement will place the five regional commissionerates under the chief police commissioner, while traffic policing will have a separately designated commissioner-level post.
The Cabinet decision does not, in the supplied report, specify the exact territorial boundaries of each commissionerate, the timeline for operationalising the new units or the names of the officers who will head them. Those details will determine how responsibilities for police stations, investigations, traffic enforcement and public safety services are distributed across the city.
The next steps will involve creating the approved posts, reallocating existing personnel and establishing the administrative structure of the five commissionerates. The Karnataka government is expected to set out the operational arrangements for the new system as the reorganisation is implemented.
