International Criminal Police Organization

In March 2022, a court in Naples put an end to the far-fetched case of Ukrainian opera director Yevhen Lavrenchuk and released him from custody. He had been detained at the request of Russia, but later Interpol admitted that the red card against the former chief director of the Odesa Opera was issued in Russia for political reasons.

What is Interpol - a stick in the hands of unscrupulous states or a tool for achieving international security? The International Criminal Police Organization in the series of Intent publications on global international organizations.

General description of the International Criminal Police Organization

History of Interpol

The structure of Interpol

Activities of Interpol

Interpol and Ukraine

Conclusions

General description of the International Criminal Police Organization

The International Criminal Police Organization (hereinafter referred to as Interpol) is an intergovernmental organization that coordinates police efforts and monitors the spread of crime in the world. Interpol's jurisdiction covers all types of crimes, and its members cannot directly perform police functions in the territory of member countries. Interpol has 195 members in the world. The organization is headquartered in Lyon.

The headquarters of Interpol in Lyon. Photo: Wikipedia

History of Interpol

The early 20th century saw an increase in international travel and international commerce, which in turn contributed to the development of transnational crime. As a result, the need for an international police force was increasingly discussed. In 1914, the first International Criminal Police Congress was held, attended by 24 countries. The congress approved the initiative to create an international police force, but the First World War prevented it. However, at the second congress in Vienna in 1923, a new organization, the International Criminal Police Commission, was created. It is from this moment that Interpol traces its history.

Participants of the International Congress in Vienna in 1923. Photo: Interpol

According to the new organization's charter, the president of the Commission was to be the chief of police of the country in which the organization was located. For this reason, after the annexation of Austria by Germany and the transfer of the organization's headquarters to Berlin, three high-ranking SS officers, Reinhard Heydrich, Arthur Nebe, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, became its presidents in succession. It can be stated that the Commission ceased to exist during the war.

The organization was revived in 1946 with the transfer of its headquarters to Paris. In 1956, the organization acquired its current name and adopted the current Charter. Finally, in 1989, INTERPOL moved to Lyon.

The structure of Interpol

The General Assembly is the highest governing body of INTERPOL. This body consists of representatives of all member countries of the organization. Each country is represented by one or more delegates, who are usually chiefs of police and senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Each delegation has one vote. The Assembly meets once a year for a session that lasts about four days. The Assembly decides on the program of its activities, determines the financial policy, elects the Secretary General and members of the Executive Committee. The Assembly also discusses the main threats and trends in international criminal activity.

INTERPOL member countries on the world map. Image: Image.

The Executive Committee is the governing body of INTERPOL, which oversees the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly and the work of the General Secretariat. The body meets three times a year. The Committee consists of 13 members, including the President of the organization, 3 Vice Presidents and 9 delegates. The President is elected for a four-year term, and the Vice-President and Delegates are elected for a three-year term. This is done in such a way as to ensure a balanced representation of the main regions of the world. The Committee prepares the agenda for the General Assembly sessions and proposes projects and work programs for its consideration.

Membership of the INTERPOL Executive Committee. Image: Interpol

The General Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day coordination of the entire organization. It advises member countries that need assistance in conducting investigations. The Secretariat has a staff of about a thousand people representing over a hundred different nationalities. The Authority is headed by the Secretary General, who is appointed for a five-year term and may be re-elected once. In 2014, German law enforcement officer Jürgen Stock was appointed to this position. In 2019, he was re-elected for a second term.

Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock. Photo: Wikipedia

Interpol has 6 regional bureaus that help member countries share experiences and fight crime together. They are located in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Yaoundé (Cameroon), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), San Salvador (El Salvador), Nairobi (Kenya) and Harare (Zimbabwe). INTERPOL also has 3 representative offices and 3 liaison offices in different parts of the world, which helps to cooperate with individual regions and other international organizations. In addition, each member country establishes its own national central bureau (hereinafter referred to as NCB) to cooperate with INTERPOL.

The activities of Interpol

Interpol tries to control the international movement of criminals. To do this, the organization provides member countries with access to databases that help to check people, their documents and vehicles. National security officials have access to the databases, but it can also be provided to law enforcement officers working at the borders of their countries.

Interpol has introduced a system of notices - international requests for cooperation and threat notices - that help member countries effectively exchange information about crimes. The notifications are conditionally categorized by color. For example, at the request of a member state, international court or tribunal, INTERPOL can issue a red notice for a fugitive. This is a signal to all member states of the organization that the person concerned must be detained.

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About the Interpol Red Notice. Video: Video.

A blue notice indicates the need to collect information about the suspect; a magenta notice - to collect information about the usual course of action for a particular criminal; green contains a warning and provides information about criminals who may continue criminal activity in other countries; yellow notice helps to find people who are missing.

INTERPOL's notification system. Image: Interpol

A member country can ask INTERPOL to organize a specialized team to travel to the country and provide direct assistance. There are two types of teams: Incident Response Teams and Major Event Support Teams. Incident response teams deal with accidents, natural disasters and crimes. This group travels to the scene to provide expert opinion and investigate the situation. The Major Event Support Team is created to help a member country prepare for and safely host an event of international importance. Such events regularly attract interest from criminal and terrorist organizations. The first major event support team was organized for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. More than a hundred such groups have been organized since then.

The response team in Nairobi in January 2019. Photo: Interpol

The Interpol Command and Coordination Center operates around the clock to ensure that police representatives from each member country can immediately request assistance. The center coordinates the work of various NSCs, receives and processes incoming information, conducts instant verification of information through databases, monitors and analyzes open news sources, etc.

An operation room in Lyon. Photo: Photo.

Interpol is constantly analyzing and systematizing information about crimes. Such analysis, in particular, concerns socio-demographic information about criminals, as well as information about the time and place of crime. Based on this analysis, INTERPOL regularly sends out reports to its member countries.

Interpol is making efforts to improve the professional development of police officers in its member countries. For this purpose, the Interpol Virtual Academy (a platform for digital learning) and the Interpol Global Academy (a network for regional training) were organized. The training covers all types of crime and includes various aspects of crime-fighting. INTERPOL cooperates with public and private organizations to gain access to the latest technical advances. This allows for regular improvement of the training methodology.

In 2016, INTERPOL organized the Dialogue, an international forum that brings together representatives of regional bureaus and other major intergovernmental organizations to foster discussion and coordinate efforts to combat international crime. "The Dialogue meets annually and publishes reports of its discussions.

INTERPOL and Ukraine

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies began cooperating with their foreign counterparts within the framework of Interpol in 1990, when the Interpol National Central Bureau was established in the USSR. Ukraine joined Interpol in 1992. The Ministry of Internal Affairs became the Ukrainian bureau of the organization, and the agency's staff was increased by 35 units. Currently, the National Police of Ukraine performs the functions of the National Bureau.

In 2021, the NSC of Ukraine processed 81,251 appeals. The most intensive cooperation in the previous eight years was with Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Moldova. In 2021, the most common crimes exchanged in the Ukrainian NSC were fraud, vehicle tracing, robbery and theft, and murder.

The activities of the Ukrainian NSC in 2014-21. Image: Yurydychna Gazeta

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the interior ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Austria, and New Zealand wrote a letter to Interpol headquarters calling for a decision to suspend Russia's access to the organization's systems. Later, the Lithuanian Minister of the Interior appealed to Interpol to expel Russia and Belarus from the organization.

On March 10, 2022, the Interpol General Secretariat issued a statement indicating that the rights of the Russian National Central Bureau had been restricted. Since then, the Russian Federation has not been allowed to send notifications directly to the NCBs of Interpol member countries, but must forward them to the organization's General Secretariat. If the notices are recognized as compliant with the Interpol rules, the Secretariat will send them to the member countries. At the same time, the statement noted that the organization would remain neutral in the conflict.

In October 2022, during the Interpol General Assembly, Ukraine raised the issue of establishing a procedure for suspending countries' membership in the organization. The majority of delegates from member countries supported Ukraine's proposal. The established working group was tasked with presenting its conclusions and proposals on this issue before the start of the new Assembly in the fall of 2023.

Conclusions

In popular culture, Interpol is sometimes portrayed as an omnipresent global police force with unlimited powers. In fact, Interpol officers are not authorized to carry out investigative work on the territory of member states. The only exception is when a member state requests Interpol to form a specialized team to enter the country. The organization's strengths lie in the coordination of joint international efforts, the creation of powerful databases and systematic analytical work with information. In this regard, it is impossible to find an alternative to the organization's activities, as evidenced by the presence of 195 member countries.

The organization is sometimes criticized for putting individuals who are in opposition to the authorities of a particular country on the international wanted list through its red notices. It should be noted that Article 3 of the Interpol Charter "strictly prohibits any interference or activity of a political, military, religious or racial nature". In defense of the organization, it should be said that it tries to be politically neutral. Another thing is that it is not easy to understand in every single case what the reason for a member country's request is.

Interpol does not currently have a procedure for dismissing members of the organization or suspending their membership. However, the idea of such a procedure was welcomed by the delegates of the 2022 General Assembly. Hopefully, the adoption of such a decision at the next Assembly will allow us to raise the issue of the first dismissal soon.

Олег Пархітько