Datanomics: Crime rises despite expansion of police force since 2014

India's police strength has risen since 2014, yet crime rates have increased, highlighting gaps in policing, public safety and internal security outcomes

A recent protest in New Delhi has turned the spotlight on policing in India. While there has been an increase in the number of police personnel — both in absolute terms and in their number per million population — since 2014, crime rates have also increased. Globally, India has the largest civil police force, but it lags the US in terms of personnel per million population. China has a lower number of personnel per million population than India. In the World Internal Security and Police Index, the US and China perform better than India, which ranks in the middle on both this list as well as the Global Organised Crime Index. Meanwhile, India has recently emerged as the country, which houses the highest number of new private security firms.