Former Royal College athletic captain and Public Schools meet record holder Senior Deputy Inspector General Roshan Fernando has been appointed as new Senior DIG of the Central Province by the National Police Commission (NPC) with effect from January 1, 2020.
Prior to his new assignment, Senior DIG Fernando worked in the same capacity in the Northern, Southern and Uva Provinces.
Among all Senior DIGs in the regular force of the Police, he is the most senior officer with nearly 38 years of experience covering all parts of the country.
Senior DIG Fernando is no stranger to the sporting arena in Sri Lanka where he shone as a top sportsman who produced several record-breaking feats in athletics at Royal College.
He was also a member of the Royal cricket team, played rugby, volleyball and boxed for his school.
But it was in his pet track and field attire that Senior DIG Fernando made an outstanding contribution to his Alma Mater by captaining Royal’s champion athletic team in 1979 as they pocketed all three major schools championships held in that year which was the Junior John Tarbet meet, Senior Tarbet meet and Relay Carnival.
Royal set a new record of 249 points to win the title which was a convincing margin to win the Senior John Tarbet Championship under his dynamic leadership.
It brought Fernando Public Schools colours in athletics that included anchoring Royal to two Public Schools records in the 4X100m Relay and Medley Relay in the Under-19 age group.
When Fernando bowed out of school he had worn the badge of a Senior College Prefect and become the Head Prefect of the Royal College Hostel where he was better known as ‘ERL’ after his initials.
In 1980 he won the Best All-round Hosteller Award.
Senior DIG Fernando had his primary education at St. Mary’s College, Negombo before he joined Royal and his Under 11 long jump record in athletics for the Marians still remains unbroken for 46 years.
As an Under-16 athlete at Royal, Fernando had accounted for five records, including the long jump record which still remains intact after 41 years.
Fernando joined the Police in April 1982 as a sub inspector and since then served in various ranks in all parts of the country while being a pioneer founder member of the elite Special Task Force (STF) in 1984.
He was promoted to the rank of ASP in 1994 and during his 38-year exemplary career he served as the Commandant of Police Marine Division and Director of Thambuththegama and Pahalagama Police Training Schools.
He had mostly served in operational areas and was in-charge of the Jaffna Division at the time the country was liberated in 2009.
For his fearless leadership in the battlefield, Fernando was also awarded the Northern Humanitarian Operations Medal and promoted to the rank of SSP in 2005 and a DIG in 2013. Prior to his promotion as a Senior DIG, Fernando was in charge of the Police Special Protection Range.
He was the recipient of the ‘Singapore Excellency Award’ in 2007 having undergone special training in Israel, Japan, Singapore, Nepal and Iran on anti-terrorist combating, community policing and cyber crimes.