Warming-up.

Go around the classroom and make a list of facts you and your group mates know about the history of Interpol.

     Read the following text and complete your list with more history facts referring to Interpol.

Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

facilitates

an annual budget

a staff

the former deputy head

to forbid

transnational crimes against humanity

a suburb

an administrative liaison

bureaucratic

law enforcement agencies

assassination

the dissemination of information

Interpol. History. 

The International Criminal Police Organization, more commonly known as Interpol, is an international organization that facilitates international police cooperation. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) in 1923.

INTERPOL has an annual budget of around €113 million, most of which is provided through annual contributions by its membership of police forces in 192 countries (as of 2017). In 2013, the INTERPOL General Secretariat employed a staff of 756, representing 100 member countries. Its current Secretary-General is Jürgen Stock, the former deputy head of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. Interpol's current President is Meng Hongwei, Deputy Minister of Public Security of China.

To keep INTERPOL as politically neutral as possible, its charter forbids it from undertaking interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature or involving itself in disputes over such matters. Its work focuses primarily on public safety and battling transnational crimes against humanity, child pornography, computer crime and cybercrime, drug trafficking, environmental crime, genocide, human trafficking, illicit drug production, copyright infringement, illicit traffic in works of art, intellectual property crime, money laundering, organized crime, corruption, terrorism, war crimes, weapons smuggling, and white-collar crime.

In 1923, a new initiative was taken at the International Criminal Police Congress in Vienna, where the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) was successfully founded as the direct forerunner of INTERPOL. Founding members included police officials from Austria, Germany, Belgium, Poland, China, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. The United Kingdom joined in 1928.  The United States did not join Interpol until 1938, although a US police officer unofficially attended the 1923 congress.

In 1938 the organization fell under the control of Nazi Germany, and the Commission's headquarters were eventually moved to Berlin in 1942. Most members withdrew their support during this period.

After the end of World War II in 1945, the organization was revived as the International Criminal Police Organization by officials from Belgium, France, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Its new headquarters were established in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. They remained there until 1989, when they were moved to their present location in Lyon.

Contrary to the way it is frequently portrayed in popular culture, Interpol is not a supranational law enforcement agency and has no agents who are able to make arrests. Instead, it is an international organization that functions as a network of criminal law enforcement agencies from different countries. The organization thus functions as an administrative liaison among the law enforcement agencies of the member countries, providing communications and database assistance, assisted via the central headquarters in Lyon, France.

Interpol's collaborative form of cooperation is useful when fighting international crime because language, cultural and bureaucratic differences can make it difficult for police officials from different nations to work together. For example, if ICE and FBI special agents track a terrorist to Italy, they may not know whom to contact in the Polizia di Stato, if the Carabinieri have jurisdiction over some aspect of the case, or who in the Italian government must be notified of the ICE/FBI's involvement. ICE and the FBI can contact the Interpol National Central Bureau in Italy, which would act as a liaison between the United States and Italian law enforcement agencies.

Interpol's databases at the Lyon headquarters can assist law enforcement in fighting international crime. While national agencies have their own extensive crime databases, the information rarely extends beyond one nation's borders. Interpol’s databases can track criminals and crime trends around the world, specifically by means of collections of fingerprints and face photos, lists of wanted persons, DNA samples, and travel documents. Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database alone contains more than 12 million records. Officials at the headquarters also analyze these data and release information on crime trends to the member countries.

An encrypted Internet-based worldwide communications network allows Interpol agents and member countries to contact each other at any time. Known as I-24/7, the network offers constant access to Interpol's databases. While the National Central Bureaus are the primary access sites to the network, some member countries have expanded it to key areas such as airports and border access points. Member countries can also access each other's criminal databases via the I-24/7 system.

In the event of an international disaster, terrorist attack, or assassination, Interpol can send an Incident Response Team (IRT). IRTs can offer a range of expertise and database access to assist with victim identification, suspect identification, and the dissemination of information to other nations' law enforcement agencies. In addition, at the request of local authorities, they can act as a central command and logistics operation to coordinate other law enforcement agencies involved in a case.

Questions to discuss.

1. What is Interpol?
2. What is a National Central Bureau?
3. Why was Interpol created?
4. How is Interpol funded?
5. What powers does Interpol have?
6. What languages does INTERPOL use to communicate with its member countries?
7. Who can use INTERPOL?
8. What are INTERPOL notices?
9. Can a person be arrested based on an INTERPOL Red Notice?
10. What is a Red Notice?
11. What is the Human Impact of a Red Notice?
12. What is FTI’s position on red notices?
13. How does Interpol protect itself from abuse?
14. Is there effective oversight of Interpol?