Santiago Wilson Osmund De SilvaOBE (25 December 1909 - c. 1980) was Ceylonese police officer. He was the thirteenth and the first Ceylonese career police officer to become Inspector-General of Police (1955–1959).
In 1955 de Silva succeeded his father-in-law, Sir Richard Aluwihare to be appointed as Inspector General of Police (IGP). He became the first IGP appointed from within the police force and the first Buddhist.[7] De Silva was responsible for introducing community policing to the country,[8] a vision that was not shared by his successors. In 1959 the Prime Minister of Ceylon, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike requested that the police intervene against trade union action occurring at Colombo Harbour.[9] De Silva declined to do the Prime Minister’s bidding on the basis that he believed the request was unlawful.[10][11] On 24 April 1959, de Silva was compulsorily retired from the police force and M. Walter F. Abeykoon, a civil servant, was appointed in his place.[12]
Family
In 1941, he married Ena Aluvihare, the nineteen year old daughter of the civil servant Richard Aluwihare, who would become the first Ceylonese Inspector General of Police in 1947.[13][14]
