Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Police. He is 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 current Inspector General of Police is Pujith Jayasundara, who succeeded N.K. Illangakoon.

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. 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.

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. 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.