Police HQ evolution a reflection of Delhi

The five headquarters mirror the story of Delhi: from the Partition influx to postcolonial expansion, from the compounds of Kashmere Gate to the vertical towers of ITO, and finally to a gleaming address

- Karn Pratap Singh

gleaming 17-storey glass-and-concrete tower rose above Jai Singh Road in central Delhi, opposite the domes of Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. It was more than just another office block in the Capital’s skyline. For the first time ever, the Delhi Police had a home of its own.

The building, constructed at a cost of ₹286 crore on over 8 acres, was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary. It consolidated, under one roof, the offices of the police commissioner and the heads of all major units, with space for operations, residences, an auditorium, and even a media lounge. To a force that had spent 71 years borrowing space, it was a long-awaited move.

Before this, the city police had worked for more than four decades out of the Public Works Department's MSO building at ITO, where its headquarters were scattered across 11 rented floors. And before that, Delhi Police cycled through three addresses in Kashmere Gate. Each building reflected a moment in the Capital's history, from the uncertainty of Partition to the turbulence of the 1970s.

Delhi Police’s assistant commissioner Rajender, who helped establish the force's museums at Kingsway Camp and Chanakyapuri, recalled discovering these lost addresses only in 2008, while preparing the police archives. “Not many people knew that the Delhi Police operated out of not just two, but four buildings before moving to Jai Singh Road,” he said. Retired IPS officer PA Rosha guided him through Kashmere Gate's forgotten compounds, pointing out structures that once housed the city’s police force.

The story of Delhi Police headquarters, then, is not just about office shifts. It is also about the city's changing geography, and it encapsulates the way policing itself has grown and evolved alongside Delhi.