| Post: | Inspector General of Police |
| Incumbent: | Vacant[1] |
| Incumbentsince: | 26 February 2024 |
| Department: | Sri Lanka Police Service |
| 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 |
| First: | William Robert Campbell (as Chief Superintendent of Police) |
| Abbreviation: | IGP |
| Deputy: | Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) |
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, with the speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane acting unconstitutionally voting which the supreme courts of Sri Lanka suspending Deshabandu acting in post. [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]
| Inspector General | Took office | Left office | Appointed by | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 September 1866 | 1872 | Hercules Robinson | ||
| 2 | 1872 | 1873 | William Henry Gregory | ||
| 3 | 1873 | 1891 | |||
| 4 | 1891 | 1902 | Arthur Hamilton-Gordon | ||
| 5 | 1902 | 1905 | Joseph West Ridgeway | ||
| 6 | 1905 | 1910 | Henry Arthur Blake | ||
| 7 | 1910 | 1913 | Henry McCallum | ||
| 8 | 1913 | 1937 | Robert Chalmers | ||
| 9 | 1937 | 1942 | Reginald Stubbs | ||
| 10 | 1942 | 1944 | Andrew Caldecott | ||
| 11 | 1944 | 1946 | Henry Monck-Mason Moore | ||
| 12 | 1946 | 1955 | |||
| 13 | 26 July 1955 | 24 April 1959 | Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke | ||
| 14 | 1 May 1959 | 2 February 1963 | |||
| 15 | 3 February 1963 | 3 June 1966 | William Gopallawa | ||
| 16 | 4 June 1966 | 7 July 1967 | |||
| 17 | 8 July 1967 | 13 September 1970 | |||
| 18 | 14 September 1970 | 23 August 1978 | |||
| 19 | 24 August 1978 | 14 March 1982 | J. R. Jayewardene | ||
| 20 | 20 March 1982 | 20 March 1985 | |||
| 21 | 20 April 1985 | 5 December 1985 | |||
| 22 | 6 December 1985 | 31 July 1988 | |||
| 23 | 1 August 1988 | 29 November 1993 | Ranasinghe Premadasa | ||
| 24 | 29 November 1993 | 31 July 1995 | Dingiri Banda Wijetunga | ||
| 25 | 31 July 1995 | 31 August 1998 | Chandrika Kumaratunga | ||
| 26 | 1 September 1998 | 27 August 2002 | |||
| 27 | 1 October 2002 | 14 October 2003 | |||
| 28 | 19 December 2003 | 30 September 2004 | |||
| 29 | 1 October 2004 | 11 October 2006 | |||
| 30 | 12 October 2006 | 31 June 2008 | Mahinda Rajapaksa | ||
| 31 | 1 July 2008 | 2 November 2009 | |||
| 32 | 3 November 2009 | 17 June 2011 | |||
| 33 | 16 July 2011 | 11 April 2016 | |||
| 34 | 20 April 2016 | 14 March 2020 | Maithripala Sirisena | ||
| 35 | 27 November 2020 | 23 November 2023 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | ||
| 36 | 26 February 2024 | Suspended | Ranil Wickramasinghe |