Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya has said the Sri Lanka Police is operating between 38,000 and 40,000 officers below strength, and named organised crime, narcotics and traffic discipline as the three main challenges facing the force.

He was speaking at the opening of a new official residence for the Officer-in-Charge of the Buttala Police Station in the Monaragala Police Division, the Daily Mirror reported.

The arithmetic of the shortfall

The IGP put the annual attrition at 2,000 to 2,500 retirements, with a further 250 or so officers dying or becoming disabled each year through accidents and other causes.

Against that, approval has been granted to recruit 10,000 new personnel. Around 1,500 have already been taken on and another 950 are expected to join shortly — roughly a quarter of the approved intake, and well under a tenth of the stated gap.

Promotions and discipline

Weerasooriya said steps had been taken to clear a long-standing backlog in promotions. More than 4,000 promotions covering service up to 2019 have been cleared, followed by nearly 2,000 more covering the period to 2025. Skills interviews and competitive examinations are under way, and he said he expected outstanding promotion grievances to be settled this year, with a system introduced from next year to deliver promotions annually and on time.

That backlog has been contested in court. The Supreme Court voided a set of 2010 police promotions in September and later dismissed 40 petitions brought by officers over promotion decisions.

On conduct, the IGP said strict measures would be taken against officers who fail to maintain required standards. The remark lands a day after a police sergeant was interdicted over an allegation of demanding a chicken as a bribe in exchange for bail paperwork.

He also said nearly 1,000 officers have been sent abroad for training, and that overseas training opportunities — including scholarships offered by India — would be allocated on English-language proficiency rather than rank.

Weerasooriya, who rose from the lowest rank in the department, told officers that the force’s effectiveness ultimately rests on public trust.

Context and caveats

An earlier figure attributed to the IGP in January put the shortfall at close to 32,000. The number cited on Friday is higher, and the Daily Mirror’s account does not explain the change or state the force’s current or authorised strength, against which the gap would be measurable. Nor does it give a timeline for completing the 10,000-officer intake. Traffic enforcement is the third of the three named priorities; in September the police identified 712 high-risk road locations for targeted attention.

The Daily Mirror was the only verified newsroom LankaNewz tracks carrying its own report of these remarks at the time of writing.