Karnataka Government Weighs Splitting Bengaluru Police into 3 or 5 Commands

The Karnataka state government is considering a major restructuring of the Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate, deliberating whether to divide the city's policing administration into three or five separate commissionerates. Shivakumar recently held detailed discussions at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru with Home Minister Priyank Kharge, Additional Chief Secretaries Tushar Girinath and Rajendra Kumar Kataria, Director General and Inspector General of Police MA Saleem, and Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh to examine the plan.

The meeting focused on the feasibility of creating new commissionerates, the necessary administrative changes, and the financial implications. Shivakumar assured officials that funds could be provided in phases if the restructuring is approved.

The proposal gained momentum following the creation of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), as the state government examined aligning police administration with the city's changing administrative structure. An initial proposal envisaged five separate police commissionerates, each headed by a Commissioner. However, this plan met resistance from several senior police officers, who warned that five independent commands could erode consistency and complicate coordination across key areas like law and order, traffic management, cybercrime, public events, and intelligence gathering.

A three-way division into North, South, and Central commissionerates is now under examination as an alternative, receiving greater support from several senior IPS officers. Under one model being considered, the Central commissionerate would include Bengaluru Rural district, alongside the Bidadi, Harohalli, Kaggalipura, and Tavarekere police stations in Bengaluru South district. If approved, administrative offices for the North and South commissionerates could be established along Tumakuru Road and Kanakapura Road respectively.

Officials have also discussed retaining the existing seven DCP divisions of the Bengaluru commissionerate while creating additional DCP zones as part of the overall reorganization.

Home Minister Priyank Kharge stated that reports regarding five new commissionerates are based on a preliminary conceptual proposal that has not yet been discussed in detail with all stakeholders. He noted that the Home Department was directed to examine measures to strengthen policing and governance across the city.

Meanwhile, some senior officers have advocated against any split, pointing to Delhi's single-commissioner structure as an alternative model. They suggested strengthening the existing setup by filling vacancies, creating sanctioned posts, improving technology, expanding community policing, and granting greater executive powers to senior officers. A final decision on the restructuring could emerge on August 15.