INTRODUCTION TO INTERPOL

Interpol – a reference to the International Criminal Police Organization – is an international

institution that aims to control crime. This organization is responsible for cooperative work
among police officers around the world, promoting a connection between them for the
control, investigation and resolution of crimes such as terrorism, cyberattacks and organized
crime itself. Interpol is a kind of international police force, which does not belong to any
specific country and which promotes actions against crime in the world.

Interpol has a database rich in information, as well as police resources that assist in the
resolution of various types of crimes. For this reason, some crimes of greater complexity end
up involving Interpol intervention.

What does Interpol mean?

The term Interpol is a reference to the International Criminal Police Organization, which is an
international crime-fighting organization. Interpol, therefore, is an expression that denotes
International Police.

Interpol works in cooperation with the police in the member countries. Interpol’s focus is on
combating international crime, acting mainly on crimes such as terrorism, organized crime
and cybercrimes. It also acts against economic crimes, especially in the face of transnational
crime that threatens the economic sectors of member countries and environmental crimes,
since the environment is of international interest. Interpol works on issues such as terrorism
and war crimes, fugitives, missing, trafficking in drugs, weapons, humans and animals,
environmental crimes, economic crimes, cyberattacks, and several others that are not
restricted to a country’s borders.

HEADQUARTERS:

Interpol’s headquarters are in the city of Lyon, which is located in France, making it the third
largest French city. The FBI is the United States Federal Investigation Department, so its
performance is of interest to the country in question.

MANAGEMENT:

INTERPOL is governed by a General Assembly, consisting of delegates appointed by member

countries, which meets once a year to make all major decisions affecting general policy. An
Executive Committee oversees the execution of the decisions of the General Assembly, as
well as the work of the Secretary General. The Secretary General oversees INTERPOL’s day-
to-day work of international police cooperation. In FY 2008, INTERPOL had a staff of 588,
representing 84 countries. In addition to 398 contract employees, INTERPOL also had 190
seconded staff from member countries. As of May 2009, the United States had seven
individuals detailed to INTERPOL.

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The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) facilitates the exchange of
information to assist law enforcement agencies in the United States and throughout the
world in detecting and deterring international crime and terrorism through a network of 187
member countries. INTERPOL also utilizes a system of color-coded international notices and
“diffusions” that share crime-related information with each member Each INTERPOL
member country establishes a National Central Bureau (NCB) to serve as its liaison between
the member country's law enforcement agencies and INTERPOL. NCBs work with the police
authorities in their countries to transmit, respond to, and execute requests for information
and assistance in criminal investigations and police matters to and from other countries’
NCBs via the INTERPOL communications network.

The current emblem of Interpol was adopted in 1950 and includes the following elements:

 the globe indicates worldwide activity

 the olive branches represent peace
 the sword represents police action
 the scales signify justice

The acronyms "OIPC" and "ICPO", representing the full name of the organization in both
English and French.

SETUP OF THE ORGANISATION:

Interpol was conceived during the first International Criminal Police Congress in 1914, which
brought officials from 24 countries to discuss cooperation in law enforcement. It was
founded in September 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), adopting
many of its current duties throughout the 1930s. After coming under Nazi control in 1938,
the agency was effectively moribund until the end of World War II. In 1956, the ICPC
adopted a new constitution and the name Interpol, derived from its telegraphic address
used since 1946.

INTERPOLE NOTICE:

Interpol notices are made based on request from national crime bureaus.

There are eight types of notices: