In 1805, police functions expanded from the maintenance of law and order to include the detection and prevention of crime. The rank of Police Constable was created, and came to be associated with all types of police work. In 1806, the city of Colombo was divided into 15 divisions and police constables were appointed to supervise each of the divisions. After the SSP comes the ASP, or the Assistant Superintendent of Police. The ASP is a supervisory officer who investigates public complaints. According to Herath, public complaints are always investigated by an ASP or officer senior to an ASP. The ASP is followed by Chief Inspectors (CI) who man ‘A’ grade stations—Borella, Pettah, Bambalapitiya etc.—followed by Inspectors who are in charge of other stations of lesser grade. This is thanks to a 1954 decision to grade police stations according to five classifications—Grades ‘E’ to ‘A’, depending on the workload, population, locality, crimes etc., in the area.
