The Criminal Investigation Department (known as CID) of the Sri Lanka Police Service

Sri Lanka Police Service

The Sri Lanka Police Service is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force has a manpower of approximately 85,000. It is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace...

 is responsible for carrying out investigations throughout the island into serious crimes, including murders, rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 and organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

  cases of a very serious nature that require special skills and complex detection. At times the CID carries out investigations pertaining to national security.

It is the primer investigation arm of the Sri Lanka Police Department and was established in 1870. It is headed by a director, who was of a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Grade. However, since the late 1970s, the position of Deputy Inspector General of Police - CID (DIG/CID) was established.

The CID was modeled after the British Police Criminal Investigation Department

Criminal Investigation Department

The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...

 and hence constitute the plain clothes detectives of the Sri Lanka police. The CID has the power to arrest any person from anywhere in Sri Lanka without getting approval from any Range DIG. It was located on the 4th floor of the new Secretariat Building

Secretariat Building

The Secretariat Building or Central Secretariat is where the Cabinet Secretariat is housed, which administers the Government of India. Built in the 1910s, it is home to some of the most important ministries of the Cabinet of India...

, Fort, Colombo and hence the origin notorious and very frightful nature of the word "4th floor" among Sri Lankans.

Until the mid-1980s the department handled investigations related to terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

 and sectarianism

Sectarianism

Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...

, until the Counter Subversive Division, it too was replaced by the Terrorist Investigation Department.

Notable and Illustrious Directors and D.I.G/C.I.Ds

• S.A. Dissanayake
  S.A. Dissanayake
  S.A. "Jingle" Dissanayaka is a former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police. He was played a major role as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department in stopping the attempted military coup of 1962...
  
  
• John Attygalle
• Frank de Silva
• Bennet Perera
• Tyrrell Goonatilleke
• Punya de Silva
• T.V. Sumanasekera
• O. K. Hemachandra
• Keerthi Gajanayake
• Sisira Mendis
• Asoka Wijethilaka
• Bandula Wickramasinghe