The West Bengal Police have announced the creation of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cell within their headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan, under the direction of Rajeev Kumar (DGP). The new unit will be led by an Additional Director General (ADG) and supported by an Inspector-General (IG) as Member Secretary, along with two technical experts. The aim is to advance the force’s capabilities in AI, data analytics and technology-driven policing.
The AI Cell’s mandate includes policy formulation, strategy development, and oversight of AI-driven projects across the police landscape. It will work on crafting frameworks for ethical, transparent and accountable AI use within policing operations. The cell is also expected to collaborate with academic institutions, startups, and government agencies to build capacity, provide training to officers in data governance and cybersecurity, and support innovative tech adoption across precincts.
In terms of governance and oversight, the cell is to hold fortnightly review meetings to monitor ongoing AI initiatives and will submit progress reports to the state government every six months. With these reporting mechanisms, the police leadership aims for periodic assessment and course-correction of the AI efforts rather than letting projects drift. Key functional areas will include data management, model deployment, and ensuring operational readiness of new AI tools.
While the initiative signals a major push toward technology-enabled policing, it also raises broader considerations: how to maintain citizen privacy, how to guard against misuse of predictive or surveillance-oriented tools, and how to balance innovation with legal and ethical safeguards. For Indian law-enforcement agencies more broadly, this move may presage a wider embrace of AI in policing—but it will also highlight the importance of governance, clear mandate, and capacity building.
