Sri Lanka Corps Of Military Police

COMMANDING OFFICER

Col EMI Ekanayake

INTRODUCTION

Investigation is an art which every Military Policeman should acquire to successfully discharge his multifarious duties. There is no perfect crime or a perfect criminal but there may be a perfect investigator provided, he observes all available clues at the scenes of crimes and logically follows them to reach the motive of crime followed by reaching the criminal. Since the Military policeman is the first one to reach the site of the crime, his preliminary investigation and timely detection of clues will assist the civil Police to reach a logical conclusion about the crime and the criminal and this will help the civil Police to book the criminals.

Members of the Special Investigation Unit have complex tasks to perform in peace and war and have lived up to their professional standards. The SIU has distinguished itself in all situations and its investigation GPs have served with distinction and honour in the SL Army and the country.

HISTORY OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION UNIT

It is a fact that decades-long war had severely disrupted living in Sri Lanka. The Army too had been expanded rapidly to meet the requirements of the nation. This rapid expansion had resulted in Major violence, crimes, theft and felony acts. The strength of the SLCMP had been inadequate to maintain discipline in the Army.

Discipline is not a subject that everybody likes but it is a matter that everybody's attention is to be drawn to. In year 1949 the Sri Lanka Military Police was established to maintain discipline in the Army. With the expansion of the Army, the rate of crimes has also increased, according to the prevailing situation Prompt action must be taken to prevent and minimize the rate of crimes in the Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police had a special investigation branch, but they were insufficient to prevent those crimes.

With that view, the Commander of the Army decided to form a Special Investigations Unit to enhance the detection of crimes and other offences while maintaining high standards of discipline in the Army.

Creating a landmark in the history of the SLCMP a separate unit namely the Special Investigation Unit was established on 06th June 1997 at Regimental Center with a hand-picked staff of four officers and thirty-one other ranks clever and skillful in investigations, to take countermeasures against indiscipline in the Army. The first Commanding officer of the Special Investigations Unit was Col AB Thoradeniya who served in the appointment from 06th June 1997 to 21st April 1999.

FORMER COMMANDANTS