Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced recruitment for 18,500 police posts on October 21, saying the move would strengthen the state force by filling vacancies, while launching the Police Setu app in Indore to give citizens faster access to police services.
The announcements were made during the traditional Shastra Puja ceremony at the District Reserve Police Lines in Indore on Vijayadashami. Yadav said the state government was also working to fill vacant posts across departments over the next two years. Recruitment to 85,000 posts across various government departments is being taken forward, he said.
The chief minister also announced that the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission would conduct special examinations in January and February next year as part of the government’s focus on employment for young people. The announcement did not specify the recruitment calendar, examination pattern or appointment timeline for the 18,500 police posts.
Yadav said policing would be strengthened through better training, modern equipment, improved forensic facilities and upgraded investigation methods. He also announced plans to establish police bands in every district, with 750 posts proposed for the initiative. The bands are intended to participate in ceremonial parades on Republic Day and Independence Day.
The recruitment announcement comes as police departments are increasingly combining conventional personnel deployment with technology-led surveillance and citizen-service systems. In Indore, Police Commissioner Santosh Kumar Singh highlighted several initiatives operated by the commissionerate, including the Traffic Saathi app, the Safe Click cybercrime-awareness chatbot, a District Drone Unit, a Community Mediation Centre and Shakti Mobile units.
According to Singh, the Community Mediation Centre has received more than 1,150 complaints and resolved over 85% of them. Disputes involving Rs 7.82 crore were settled through mutual agreement, he said. The Safe Click chatbot has reached more than 17,000 citizens with cybercrime-awareness information, while the 19-drone District Drone Unit is used for surveillance during major events, crowd management and law-and-order duties.
The commissioner also said 15 Shakti Mobile units were deployed during Navratri to help women and girls travel home safely during late-night hours, operating until 4 am. He said 1,721 personnel had been promoted in the Indore police commissionerate, while more than 27,500 promotions had been carried out across the state police.
The Police Setu app, developed by the Indore police commissionerate, is designed to make police services more accessible and transparent. Users can identify the police station and duty officer responsible for their location and contact them directly. The platform will also provide information on police personnel on duty, police stations, officers and available services.
Yadav said the app could eventually be considered for implementation across Madhya Pradesh. Its wider adoption would depend on decisions about integration, staffing and service coverage, none of which were detailed in the announcement. The immediate rollout is focused on improving communication between residents and the police in Indore.
