Sri Lanka Police

Sri Lanka Police (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලීසිය, romanized: Śrī Laṁkā Polīsiya; Tamil: இலங்கை காவல், romanized: Ilaṅkai Kāval) 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, 607 Police Stations with more than 84,000 people. The professional head of the police is the Inspector General of Police who reports to the Ministry of Public Security as well as the National Police Commission. The current Inspector General of Police is Priyantha Weerasooriya.

During the Sri Lankan civil war, the police service became an integral part of maintaining of the nation's security, primarily focusing on internal security. Many police officers have been killed in the line of duty mainly due to terrorist attacks.

Specially trained commando/counter-terrorist units named Special Task Force are deployed in joint operations with the armed forces for counter-terrorism operations and VVIP protection. The police command structure in Northern and Eastern provinces is closely integrated with the other security organisations under the authority of the Joint Operations Command.

The Police service can be reached across Sri Lanka on the 119 emergency number.

Timeline of significant events:

1797: The office of Fiscal was created. Fredric Barron Mylius was appointed as Fiscal of Colombo and entrusted with responsibility of policing Colombo.

1806: The regulation No. 6 of 1806 appointed a Vidane Arachchi to each town or village, for prevention and detection of crime in rural areas.

1832: A committee appointed by the governor was instructed to form a police force. It was decided by this committee that the new police force was to be funded by a tax to be paid by the public. It consisted of one Superintendent, one Chief Constable, five Constables, ten Sergeants and 150 Peons. They were responsible for maintaining law and order in the capital city of Colombo.