Kerala State Police is the law enforcement agency for the State of Kerala with its Headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, the State Capital.

Kerala Police has a reputation for being one of the best-managed state police forces in the country and is one of the top-ranking states in terms of maintenance of law and order. Kerala Police is also one of the first Police departments in South Asia to implement community policing through an enactment. It is popularly known as ‘Janamaithri’ Policing, which literally translates to people-friendly Policing Kerala Police registers the highest number of cognizable offences in the country, next only to the National Capital Territory of Delhi. This has to be viewed from the perspective of the relatively peaceful image of the state. This is a reflection of the good practice adopted by the state in registering every cognizable instance reported at the Police station level and dealing with the crimes and offenders legally.

Kerala Police has been the fountainhead of several police reforms and innovative schemes in the country. A new Kerala Police Act enacted in 2011 was a guiding light for many other state police forces in the country to draft their own local Police Acts. The avant-garde provisions of the Act, which enable the setting up of a Police Establishment Board, Police Complaints Authority, State Security Commission, Police Welfare Bureau, Community Policing, etc., have given it the status of a modern-day treatise on Policing philosophy. Student Police Cadet Scheme piloted by the Kerala state during 2008-2010, to positively tackle adolescent deviant behaviour and encourage good citizenship values among youth has been endorsed as a planning scheme by the Ministry of Home Affairs and has now been adopted by many other states in India. Similarly, initiatives such as Kerala Police Cyberdome, a PPP model in cyber governance and Kerala Police CoCoN, a flagship annual conference on cyber security and digital strategies to tackle crimes, have earned a respectable place in the hearts of all stakeholders.

The high literacy levels in Kerala society are also reflected in the high levels of educational qualification among the cutting-edge level police officials of Kerala Police. Their demeanour, turn-out and skill levels in dealing with citizens, mirror their education levels. The recruitment of constabulary level officials done through a stringent competitive exam by an independent Public Service Commission echoes the ethos of Kerala society for transparency and fairness. The newly recruited Police officials are trained in the latest police subjects, both indoor and outdoor, and nurtured to live up to the motto of Kerala Police.