March 17, 2023, Colombo: President Ranil Wickremesinghe has recommended appointing Senior DIG Deshabandu Thennakoon as Sri Lanka’s 36th Inspector General of Police (IGP) following the retirement of the current IGP C.D. Wickramaratne on March 25.
Deshabandu Thennakoon, born in 1971, studied at Nalanda College in Colombo and joined the Police Service in 1998 as an apprentice Assistant Superintendent of Police. He was promoted to the posts of Superintendent of Police (SP) in 2006, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in 2011, and Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police in 2015.
Later, in November 2019, Deshabandu Thennakoon was appointed the Acting Senior Deputy Inspector-General (SDIG) of the Police and was promoted to the post of SDIG on January 01, 2020.
He has served as the SDIG in charge of the Western Province for over 3 years since December 05, 2019. The Sri Lankan Police Force was established on the 3rd of September 1866 by the British by appointing G. W. R. Campbell as the first Police Chief of Sri Lanka.
Since 1866 to-date 35 IGPs have been appointed in Sri Lanka, and Deshabandu Thennakoon will be the 36th Inspector General of Police. On the 1st of June, 1947, Sir Richard Aluvihare was the first Sri Lankan to hold the office of Inspector General.
