Inspector General of Police | |
---|---|
Sri Lanka Police Service | |
Abbreviation | IGP |
Member of | National Security Council |
Reports to | Ministry of Law and Order |
Nominator | President of Sri Lanka |
Appointer | Constitutional Council |
Constituting instrument | Police Ordinance, No. 16 of 1865 |
Precursor | Fiscal of Colombo |
Formation | 3 September 1866 |
First holder | William Robert Campbell (as Chief Superintendent of Police) |
Deputy | Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) |
Website | www |
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Police. They are the most senior police officer in Sri Lanka and oversees all police personnel throughout the country. The IGP reports to the Minister of Law and Order, when the Police Service is under the Ministry of Law and Order as it is currently.
The post of Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka can be traced as far back as 1797 when the office of Fiscal was created and Fredric Barron Mylius was appointed as Fiscal of Colombo and entrusted with responsibility of policing the City of Colombo. [2] In 1833, the Head of the Police Service was called the Superintendent of Police, in 1836 the designation was changed to Chief Superintendent of Police. [3]
The official establishment of the Ceylon Police Force was on 3 September 1866 when William Robert Campbell (then the chief of police in the Indian province of Rathnageri) was appointed as Chief Superintendent of Police in Ceylon to be in charge of the Police units. [4] [5] This post officially became the Chief of Police but was soon changed to that of the Inspector General of Police accordingly William Robert Campbell became the first Inspector General of Police. [6]
On 26 April 2019 President Maithripala Sirisena instructed Pujith Jayasundara to resign over failures that led to the deadly Easter bomb attacks. Due to a lack of response from Jayasundara, he was put on compulsory leave with Senior DIG C. D. Wickramaratne appointed as the acting Inspector General. [7]
After two extensions Wickramaratne was given a third extension by President Ranil Wickramasinghe on 9 October 2023, which was subsequently rejected by the Constitutional Council, with all members disagreeing with the president leaving the validity of the post and making the post vacant for the first time in the country's history. [8] On 29 November 2023 Deshabandu Tennakoon was appointed acting Inspector General by President Wickremesinghe. [9] He was formally confirmed as Inspector General on 26 February 2024. [1]
The Inspector General of Police can be removed through an investigation by a 3-member committee if found guilty of specified offence(s) under the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act No. 5 of 2002. [10]
Sri Lanka Police is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout Sri Lanka. The police force consists of 43 Territorial Divisions, 67 Functional Divisions, 432 Police Stations with more than 84,000 people. The professional head of the police is the Inspector General of Police who reports to the Minister of Law and Order as well as the National Police Commission. The last Inspector General of Police was Deshabandu Tennakoon.
The 1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt was a failed military coup d'état planned in Ceylon. A group of Christian officers in the military and police planned to topple the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike during the night of 27 January 1962. Organised by Colonel F. C. de Saram, Colonel Maurice De Mel,, Rear Admiral Royce de Mel, C.C. Dissanayake, Sydney de Zoysa and Douglas Liyanage, it was to take place in the night of 27 January 1962, but was called off as the government gained information in the afternoon and initiated arrests of the suspected coup leaders before the coup was carried out.
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S. A. "Jingle" Dissanayake(16 September 1913 - 11 March 1982) was a former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police. He played a major role as Deputy Inspector-General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department in stopping the attempted military coup of 1962. Later in 1971 during the 1971 JVP Insurrection he was appointed as Additional Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence and coordinated military and police operations that crushed the insurrection in two months.
Ganegoda Appuhamelage Don Edmund Ananda Seneviratne was a Sri Lankan police officer. He was the former Inspector-General of Police, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Malaysia, former adviser to Cabinet Minister of National Security and ex member Public Service Commission of Sri Lanka.
Thangarajah Edward Anandaraja was Sri Lanka's 27th Inspector-General of Police and a former Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.
The Constitutional Council (CC) is a 10-member constitutional authority in Sri Lanka tasked with maintaining independent commissions and monitoring its affairs. The Constitutional Council is aimed at depoliticizing the public service.
Pujith Senadhi Bandara Jayasundara also simply known as Pujith Jayasundara is a former Sri Lankan police officer. He was the 34th Inspector-General of Police (IGP) from 2016 to 2020. He was sent on compulsory leave from April 2019 following the Easter bombings and retired in March 2020.
Santiago Wilson Osmund De Silva was Ceylonese police officer. He was the thirteenth and the first Ceylonese career police officer to become Inspector-General of Police (1955–1959).
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Morawakkorakoralege Walter Fonseka Abeykoon was a Ceylonese civil servant and served as the Inspector General of Police between 1959 and 1963.
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Ernest Edward Boniface Perera was the 23rd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police, serving between 1988 and 1993.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was prevented due to government raids.
Nugagaha Kapalle Illangakoon was the 33rd Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police, serving from 16 July 2011 to 11 April 2016. He also served as an advisor to the Ministry of Defence.
Chandana Deepal Wickramaratne is a retired Sri Lankan police officer. He is a former Inspector General of Sri Lankan Police.
Indra de Silva was the 28th Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2003–2004).
Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya was the 32nd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2009–2011).
Herbert W. H. Weerasinghe was the 21st Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP).
Tennakoon Mudiyanselage Wanshalankara Deshabandu Tennakoon, known as Deshabandu Tennakoon, is a Sri Lankan controversial police officer. He is the first de facto Inspector General of the Sri Lankan Police the Supreme Court suspended his position on 24 July 2024.