Interpol
This article is about the International Criminal Police Organization. For other meanings, see Interpol (disambiguation)For the band Interpol, see Interpol (band).
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Interpol logo |
Interpol (or
International Criminal Police Organization) was created in
1923 to assist international criminal police co-operation. Interpol, once merely the organization's telegraphic address, was officially incorporated into the organization's new name adopted in
1956, prior to which it was known as the International Criminal Police Commission.
Interpol is the world's third largest
international organization, after the
United Nations and
FIFA; it currently has 184 member countries. It is financed by annual contributions of about €30 million from its member countries;
Europol, by comparison, receives €50 million annually. The organization is headquartered in
Lyon,
France after moving from
Saint Cloud, a town located in the vicinity of
Paris. The currently serving president of Interpol is Mr.
Jackie Selebi, commissioner of the
South African Police Service. The current secretary general,
Ronald K. Noble, formerly of the
U.S. Treasury Department, 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 and
terrorism,
organized crime,
war crimes,
illicit drug production and
drug trafficking,
weapons smuggling,
trafficking in human beings,
money laundering,
child pornography,
white-collar crime, and
high-tech crime, and
corruption.
In October
2001, the Interpol General Secretariat employed a staff of 384, representing 54 different countries. That same month, Interpol began to change from a 9-to-5 agency to a 24-hour agency.
In
2001, some 1,400 people were arrested or located as a result of Interpol notices.
Interpol was founded in
Austria in
1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission. The organization came under control of
Nazi Germany when Germany declared the
Anschluss (political union between Germany and Austria). The staff and facilities of Interpol were utilized as an information gathering unit for the
Gestapo, until the Nazi regime fell to
Allied forces.
Senior military officials from
Belgium,
France,
Scandinavia and the
United Kingdom reorganized Interpol into today's organization.
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 bureaus 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
drugs 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 to immigration officials at airports and border checkpoints. 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.
Contrary to what has been featured in some works of fiction, Interpol officers do not directly conduct inquiries in member countries.
*
Afghanistan*
Albania*
Algeria*
Andorra*
Angola*
Antigua and Barbuda*
Argentina*
Armenia*
Aruba*
Australia*
Austria*
Azerbaijan*
Bahamas*
Bahrain*
Bangladesh*
Barbados*
Belarus*
Belgium*
Belize*
Benin*
Bolivia*
Bosnia and Herzegovina*
Botswana*
Brazil*
Brunei*
Bulgaria*
Burkina Faso*
Burundi*
Cambodia*
Cameroon*
Canada*
Cape Verde*
Central African Republic*
Chad*
Chile*
China*
Colombia*
Comoros*
Congo*
Democratic Republic of Congo*
Costa Rica*
Ivory Coast*
Croatia*
Cuba*
Cyprus*
Czech Republic*
Denmark*
Djibouti*
Dominica*
Dominican Republic*
East Timor*
Ecuador*
Egypt*
El Salvador*
Equatorial Guinea*
Eritrea*
Estonia*
Ethiopia*
Fiji*
Finland*
Republic of Macedonia*
France*
Gabon*
Gambia*
Georgia*
Germany*
Ghana*
Greece*
Grenada*
Guatemala*
Guinea*
Guinea Bissau*
Guyana*
Haiti*
Honduras*
Hong Kong*
Hungary*
Iceland*
India*
Indonesia*
Iran*
Iraq*
Ireland*
Israel*
Italy*
Jamaica*
Japan*
Jordan*
Kazakhstan*
Kenya*
Republic of Korea*
Kuwait*
Kyrgyzstan*
Laos*
Latvia*
Lebanon*
Lesotho*
Liberia*
Libya*
Liechtenstein*
Lithuania*
Luxembourg*
Macau*
Madagascar*
Malawi*
Malaysia*
Maldives*
Mali*
Malta*
Marshall Islands*
Mauritania*
Mauritius*
Mexico*
Moldova*
Monaco*
Mongolia*
Morocco*
Mozambique*
Myanmar*
Namibia*
Nauru*
Nepal*
Netherlands*
Netherlands Antilles*
New Zealand*
Nicaragua*
Niger*
Nigeria*
Norway*
Oman*
Pakistan*
Panama*
Papua New Guinea*
Paraguay*
Peru*
Philippines*
Poland*
Portugal*
Qatar*
Romania*
Russia*
Rwanda*
Saint Kitts and Nevis*
St Lucia*
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines*
São Tomé and Príncipe*
Saudi Arabia*
Senegal*
Serbia*
Seychelles*
Sierra Leone*
Singapore*
Slovakia*
Slovenia*
Somalia*
South Africa*
Spain*
Sri Lanka*
Sudan*
Suriname*
Swaziland*
Sweden*
Switzerland*
Syria*
Tajikistan*
Tanzania*
Thailand*
Togo*
Tonga*
Trinidad and Tobago*
Tunisia*
Turkey*
Turkmenistan*
Uganda*
Ukraine*
United Arab Emirates*
United Kingdom*
United States*
Uruguay*
Uzbekistan*
Venezuela*
Vietnam*
Yemen*
Zambia*
ZimbabweAs an international law enforcement agency, Interpol agents offer unique qualities that make them good candidates for fiction. Some examples:
*In the
Lupin III franchise, Lupin's eternal foil,
Inspector Zenigata, is an agent of Interpol.
*In
Capcom's
Street Fighter video game franchise (and many of its adaptations to other media),
Chun-Li is an agent of Interpol.
*In
Marvel's
X-Men the now deceased Irish X-man
Banshee was a former interpol officer.
*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 murderer killing international criminals.
*In the book and movie
The Da Vinci Code, the 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.
*There is an
American band that shares the name Interpol.
*
The Goon Show made a few references to Interpol throughout their run in the
1950s.
The logo of the
Mirror Universe looks suspiciously similar to that of Interpol.
*
Interpol's official website*
A Website with Interpol Information 
