INTERPOL
By: Lydia Hanna
History
-INTERPOL is the International Criminal Police Organization. INTERPOL is a national network of police agencies, founded in 1923. The idea behind INTERPOL was first discussed during a 1914 international police conference in Monaco. There were 24 countries present. Today, there are 190 different nations linked together through INTERPOL.
-Each of those 190 nations houses a National Central Bureau, which serves as the nation's INTERPOL office and houses a police force. The bureaus are connected to one another through technology and other forms of communication, so that the police forces can work together.
-Interpol was reorganized in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The new post of executive director for police services was created to oversee several directorates, including those for regional and national police services, specialized crimes, and operational police support.
Overview
Purpose/Goal
Under Article 2 of the Organization's Constitution, Interpol's aims are:
(a) To ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities, within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
b) To establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute effectively to the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes.
Function
Organization
-An Executive Committee of 13 members, each representing a different region of the world, is appointed by the General Assembly at its annual meeting. The Executive Committee oversees the implementation of decisions made by the General Assembly and supervises the work of the secretary general.
-Interpol issues “coloured” notices: yellow to help locate missing persons, blue to collect information on illegal activities or on an individual’s identity, black to request information needed to identify a body, green to warn agencies about criminals from one country who may commit additional offenses in other countries, and orange to warn law-enforcement agencies of dangers from bombs and other weapons. They don't actually physically arrest people.
Impact
In June 2009, Canada became one of the first countries to give their front line police officers access to INTERPOL’s immense international criminal databases through the addition of the INTERPOL-CPIC Interface to the existing CPIC database. The Interface is available to all police and law enforcement agencies in Canada. It is the result of two years of partnership between INTERPOL and the RCMP.
INTERPOL Ottawa is the initial point of contact for all Canadian Law enforcement agencies. It provides support to ongoing international fugitive investigations and is the primary link between law enforcement agencies in Canada and around the world. The work that INTERPOL-Ottawa has contributed through the INTERPOL-CPIC Interface is yet another example of how Canada is a well-established leader in the realm of international policing.
INTERPOL has helped the world ominously by solving several crimes through international help and it has made communication between countries much easier. They help fight for truth and justice within the economy and most importantly make humanity into a safer residence.