Record groups of Department of Nationa Archives

Ceylon Police Department

Identity area

Type of entity

Corporate body

Authorized form of name

Ceylon Police Department

Parallel form(s) of name

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Other form(s) of name

Identifiers for corporate bodies

Description area

Dates of existence

1919-1983

History

The police service of Ceylon was established by Ordinance No. 16 of 1865 and established as a legally recognised institution by the British on 3rd September 1866. (The ordinances on the Police Service are No. 7 of 1866, 16 of 1867, 19 of 1871, 23 of 1891, 13 of 1905.) Sessional Papers pertaining to the subject were No. 5 of 1864, No. 15 of 1865, 22 of 1867, 27 of 1878, 4 of 1873, 6 of 1879, 2 of 1881 and No. 5, 41, 1, 6 of 1905.
The Police Training School at Kalutara was opened in 1948. Earlier it was opened at Maradana and shifted to the Pettah, Mt. Lavinia and Bambalapitiya. In 1950 the Police Reserve was established. The CID, Technical Branches, Transport Kennels, Staples, Harbour Patrol and Traffic branches had been formed by this time. The women cadre were taken into the police service in 1953. The Police Families Welfare Association was established in 1971.
The department functioned under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs from 1936-1949, thereafter under the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs and since 1977 under the Ministry or Defence.
The department is now the premier law enforcement agency of Sri Lanka. The department performs the following functions: Enforce all laws, powers of which have been vested with the police; assist other departments with law enforcement functions; engage in activities in preservation or crime and other offences; provide special security to important state officials, state guests and state institutions; provide service to the public in the form or relief work during calamities such as floods, cyclone etc.; and assist in tracing of missing persons.

Places

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

Relationships area

Control area

Description identifier

LK-NA/CPD

Institution identifier

LK-NA

Rules and/or conventions used

ISAAR

Status

Final

Level of detail

Minimal

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

  • Latin

Sources

Maintenance notes