Interpol
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| International Criminal Police Organization | |
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| Formation | 1923 |
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| Headquarters | Lyon, France |
| Membership | 186 member states |
| Official languages | Arabic, English, French and Spanish |
| Secretary General | Ronald K. Noble |
| Website | http://www.interpol.int/ |
Interpol, or International Criminal Police Organization, was established as The International Criminal Police Commission in 1923 to assist international criminal police cooperation. It adopted its telegraphic address in its name in 1956. It should not be confused with the International Police, which actually takes on an active uniformed role in policing war torn countries.
Interpol is the world's third largest international organization, after the United Nations and FIFA, with 186 member countries financed by annual contributions of about €41.7 million from its member countries. Europol, by comparison, receives €63.4 million annually. The organization is headquartered in Lyon, France after moving from Saint Cloud, a town near Paris. Mr. Jackie Selebi, National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, is serving as president. The current secretary general, Ronald K. Noble, formerly of the United States Treasury, is the first non-European to hold the position.
Because of the politically neutral role Interpol must play, its constitution forbids any involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries, or any political, military, religious, or racial crimes. Its work focuses primarily on public safety, terrorism, organized crime, war crimes, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, and corruption.
In 2005, the Interpol General Secretariat employed a staff of 502, representing 78 member countries. Women comprised 42 percent of the staff. The Interpol public web site - www.interpol.int - received an average of 2.2 million page visits every month. Following the publication of an Interpol Red Notice or "diffusión roja, 3,500 people were arrested by police in 2005.
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[edit] History
Interpol was founded in Austria in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission. Its headquarters was located in Wien from 1923 to 1942. It came under control of Nazi Germany following the Anschluss (political union between Germany and Austria), and its headquarters were moved to Berlin. From 1942 to 1946 it was located in Germany and its staff and facilities were used as an information gathering unit for the Gestapo until the Nazi regime fell to Allied forces. Later, senior military officials from Belgium, France, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom reorganized Interpol into today's organization the headquarters of which were located in Paris, France (1946-1989) when its headquarters were moved to Lyon.
[edit] Methodology
Each member country maintains a National Central Bureau (NCB) staffed by national law enforcement officers. The NCB is the designated contact point for the Interpol General Secretariat, regional bureaux and other member countries requiring assistance with overseas investigations and the location and apprehension of fugitives. This is especially important in countries which have many law-enforcement agencies: this central bureau is a unique point of contact for foreign entities, which may not understand the complexity of the law-enforcement system of the country they attempt to contact. For instance, the NCB for the United States of America is housed at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The NCB will then ensure the proper transmission of information to the correct agency.
Interpol maintains a large database charting unsolved crimes and both convicted and alleged criminals. At any time, a member nation has access to specific sections of the database and its police forces are encouraged to check information held by Interpol whenever a major crime is committed. The rationale behind this is that drug traffickers and similar criminals have international ties, and so it is likely that crimes will extend beyond political boundaries.
Since 2002 Interpol has also been maintaining a database of lost and stolen identification and travel documents allowing member countries to validate whether a document issued by another country has been invalidated by the issuing authority due to being reported missing or stolen. Passport fraud, for example, is often performed by altering a stolen passport, thus several countries are working on integrating online queries to this database into their standard border control procedures to help identify fraudulent passports from foreign countries when those passports are presented. As of early 2006, the database contained over ten million identification items reported lost or stolen and is expected to grow even more as more countries join the list of those reporting into the database.
A member nation's police force can contact one or more member nations by sending a message relayed through Interpol.
[edit] Member countries and regions
[edit] Non-member countries
[edit] Secretary-general and presidents
Secretaries-general
France 1963 - 1978 Jean Népote- France 1978 - 1985 André Bossard
United Kingdom 1985 - 2000 Raymond E. Kendall
United States 2000 - Ronald K. Noble
Presidents
Austria 1923 - 1932 Johann Schöber- Austria 1932 - 1934 Franz Brandl
- Austria 1934 - 1935 Eugen Seydel
- Austria 1935 - 1938 Michael Skubl
Nazi Germany 1938 - 1940 Otto Steinhäusl- Nazi Germany 1940 - 1942 Reinhard Heydrich
- Nazi Germany 1942 - 1943 Arthur Nebe
- Nazi Germany 1943 - 1945 Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Belgium 1946 - 1956 Florent Louwage
Portugal 1956 - 1960 Agostinho Lourenço- United Kingdom 1960 - 1963 Richard L. Jackson
Finland 1963 - 1964 Fjalar Jarva- Belgium 1964 - 1968 Firmin Franssen
West Germany 1968 - 1972 Paul Dickopf
Canada 1972 - 1976 William Leonard Higgitt
Sweden 1976 - 1980 Carl Persson
Philippines 1980 - 1984 Jolly Bugarin- United States 1984 - 1988 John Simpson
- France 1988 - 1992 Ivan Barbot
- Canada 1992 - 1994 Norman Inkster
- Sweden 1994 - 1996 Björn Eriksson
Japan 1996 - 2000 Toshinori Kanemoto
Spain 2000 - 2004 Jesús Espigares Mira
South Africa 2004 - present Jackie Selebi
[edit] Interpol in popular culture
Contrary to what has been featured in some works of fiction, Interpol officers do not directly conduct inquiries in member countries. Its main role is the passing on of information, not actual law enforcement.
As an international law enforcement agency, Interpol agents offer unique qualities that make them good candidates for fiction, even if it does not reflect reality.
Some examples:
- Inspector Gadget is an agent of Interpol.
- In the Lupin III franchise, Lupin's eternal foil, Inspector Zenigata, is an agent of Interpol.
- In the comedy film Johnny English, it is eventually revealed that Lorna Campbell is actually an Interpol agent spying on Pascal Sauvage.
- In Capcom's Street Fighter video game franchise (and many of its adaptations to other media), Chun-Li is an agent of Interpol.
- In the Sly Cooper series, Carmelita Fox and a few other characters are Interpol officers.
- In the movie Lord of War, Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke) is an Interpol officer.
- In the movie Mission: Impossible III, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is told he is on Interpol's Most Wanted list.
- In the manga series Death Note, Interpol was trying to capture Kira, a vigilante killing international criminals.
- In the book and movie The Da Vinci Code, Interpol is mentioned several times, mainly in reference to their extensive database of information.
- In the anime/manga series Azumanga Daioh, Tomo wanted to be part of Interpol.
- The Goon Show made a few references to Interpol throughout their run in the 1950s.
- The logo of the Terran Empire within Star Trek's Mirror Universe looks similar to that of Interpol's logo.
- "Interpol" databases are referenced in the Carmen Sandiego computer games.
- In the latest Indian Flick Don movie starring Sharukh Khan, Interpol was trying to capture Don, a smuggler involved in Drugs.
- Department S was a British TV series about a fictional Special investigation department of Interpol.
- In the film The Medallion, the protagonists are agents of Interpol.
[edit] See also
- Europol, a similar organization in Europe
- Interpol Terrorism Watch List
[edit] External links
