Life being relatively more complex and delicate, the rulers of Delhi in one or the other form always kept a force to regulate its affairs and preserve its law and order. The force was ordinarily lodged in a Fort (kot) under an officer called ‘Kotpal’ which later on came to be called ‘Kotwal’. To make the movements on highway safe something like the present police post seem to have been set up ther
e at some strategic points. These were called ‘Sthanas’ which later on called ‘Thanas’. The Kotwal was the Head of the Police System. The Kotwal was supposed to make the city crime free and maintain the law and order. The Kotwal and his system of policing continued to remain in place during medieval period. The first Kotwal of Delhi (1237) was Malikul Umara Faqruddin and the last Kotwal of Delhi was as Sh. Gangadhar Nehru (1857). After the First War of Independence, the British Monarch took over British India under his direct control and police was also became the subject of the British Administration. The police was re-constituted under the Police Act, 1861 which continues to be the guiding law in India even today. The first major re-organisation of the force took place in 1946. On 16th Feb 1948, the Delhi Police was placed under the charge of an IGP exclusively responsible for maintenance of law and order in the city. In 1978 the Delhi Police Act was passed and the Commissioner of Police system was introduced w.e.f. 1.7.1978. Since then, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi has been heading the Delhi Police.
