Few public servants can claim to have transformed an institution in under three months. O.P. Singh managed precisely that during his 79-day stint as director-general of police (DGP) in Haryana, from October 14th to year’s end. Stepping into the breach after his predecessor’s abrupt departure amid the suicide of an IPS officer, Mr. Singh did not content himself with stabilisation. He unleashed a blitz of operational precision, digital innovation and strategic foresight, leaving a force both feared by criminals and trusted by citizens.
India’s policing is a creaking edifice: 2m officers for 1.4bn people, colonial-era laws, political meddling and trust deficits exacerbated by scandals. Haryana, straddling the gang-ridden badlands of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, exemplifies the strain. Mr. Singh’s arrival was no routine appointment. It was an emergency infusion of competence into a demoralised machine.
Operational Thunder
The centrepiece was two interlocking operations: Trackdown (November 5th-27th) and Hotspot Domination (December 1st-22nd). Together, they netted 15,828 arrests—a prodigious tally for 45 days. Among them were 49 bounty fugitives (₹1,000-50,000 rewards), 197 hardened offenders (3-56 cases or gang affiliations) and 172 violent predators who had plotted against 109 lives. The arsenal seized was alarming: 248 country-made kattas, 251 pistols, nine revolvers, 14 guns or rifles, 28 magazines, 1,155 live rounds, 19 spent casings, one improvised explosive device and two hand grenades. This was no street sweep; it was a decapitation of criminal firepower.
Hotspot Domination scaled the assault, raiding 17,285 locations and registering 1,736 fresh cases. The economic blow was devastating. Narcotics seizures gutted supply chains: 496kg ganja, 8.35kg heroin, 335g smack, 134kg poppy husk, 413kg charas, 1,266kg doda post, 30kg opium, 339,358 narcotic tablets, 30,932 capsules, plus LSD, MDMA and cocaine. Illicit liquor barons hemorrhaged 726 beer bottles, 18,369 English liquor bottles, 27,623 foreign ones, 27,185 country hooch, 1,824 litres kacchi sharab and 8,965 litres wash. Cash: ₹1.24cr. Vehicles: 283 two-wheelers, 119 cars. Mobiles: 102.
Mr. Singh went further, targeting criminal capital. Assets worth ₹7.23cr were frozen outright; illegal properties of 201 offenders—valued at ₹169cr—were mapped, with 20 violent criminals’ constructions demolished and 14 attached. Lookout notices blanketed 56; passport cancellations loomed for 48. Intelligence on 1,108 interstate hoodlums was shared nationwide. Institutional memory hardened: 989 new history sheets opened, 2,132 updated, 124 bails revoked. Gun houses (110 inspected) received show-cause notices. This was deterrence engineered for perpetuity.
Doctrine and Delivery
Mr. Singh’s philosophy rejected policing’s false dichotomies. “Firmness on law, gentleness with people,” he instructed Gurugram officers, advocating dignified enforcement over humiliation. Drunken-driving checkpoints? Coordinate with bars, promote safe rides. Amid winter’s bite, 13,087 homeless received aid—food, blankets—proving ruthlessness need not erase humanity.
Digitally, Haryana Police transcended its station-house image. In 79 days, 110 public service announcements (PSAs) racked up 115m views with 99% positive sentiment. Mr. Singh’s viral fitness videos—75 push-ups, dawn runs through Panchkula—doubled as cultural reset, combating the torpor endemic to underpaid, overstressed ranks. His X account (@opsinghips) melded real-time crime stats with Kabir couplets: cyber-fraud alerts beside crowd-psychology insights from his forthcoming book CrowdHosting. Virality became vigilance; reels preempted ransomware scams and drug lures.
The Man And The Machine
A 1992-batch IPS officer, Mr. Singh’s pre-DGP career was eclectic. In the Enforcement Directorate (2003-07), he co-drafted the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and led India’s first such prosecution. As Haryana’s sports director (2008-12), his PIE model (Participation-Inclusion-Excellence) engaged 1m children, minting Olympic wrestlers. Postings as commissioner in Faridabad and Ambala-Panchkula honed his urban-gang expertise; stints in narcotics, cyber, forensics and housing honed administration. Accolades: Police Medal (2008), President’s Distinguished Service (2017). Books on life journey (Haulsa Nama), fact-check (Jin Dhoonda Tin Paaiye) and sports (Say Yes to Sports) reveal a reflective core.
Retirement chafes. “Khaki never leaves you,” he told his farewell parade, quoting Tennyson on duty’s close and Kabir on journeys’ end. “I exit government, not retire.” Successor Ajay Singhal inherits a 2026 playbook: Special Task Force watchlists for 100 violent offenders, 20 high-risks per district under surveillance—“last-mile domination” to ensure police, not gangs, own the streets.
Enduring Recalibration
Mr. Singh’s 79 days expose India’s policing paradox: capable individuals trapped in archaic systems. Brevity amplified impact—thousands jailed, crores seized, trust rebuilt—without the sclerosis of permanence. In a force plagued by 30% vacancies and political puppeteering, he proved one leader’s clarity can yield disproportionate returns.
His farewell tribute rang true: a “blessing” of “integrity, wisdom and quiet excellence”. Haryana’s khaki is renewed; its echo, eternal. What took others years, Mr. Singh achieved in a season. Policing, recalibrated.
