BFF-33 Five things to know about Interpol

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INTERPOL-POLICE-DIPLOMACY

Five things to know about Interpol

LYON, Nov 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Interpol, the world’s largest international
police organisation, works with its 194 member countries to coordinate
policing across the planet, including on organised crime and counter-
terrorism operations.

After it named South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang as its new president on
Wednesday, beating a Russian official whose candidacy had unnerved Western
nations, here is some background on the agency.

– Politically neutral –

Founded in 1923, Interpol facilitates cooperation between police
authorities across its member countries but does not have a police force of
its own.

Based in the southeastern French city of Lyon since 1989, it is officially
politically neutral and acts only within the national laws of its members.

It is prohibited from “any intervention or activities of a political,
military, religious or racial character,” its website says.

There have nonetheless been accusations that some member states, including
Russia, have tried to use Interpol channels to have political opponents
arrested in other countries.

Russia on Wednesday said “unprecedented pressure” swayed Interpol to
choose the US-backed Kim over Russian candidate Alexander Prokopchuk.

– A symbolic presidency –

The Interpol president, elected every four years, serves a largely
symbolic role and presides over the annual meeting of the General Assembly,
its top governing body.

Composed of delegates from each member state, the General Assembly takes
all major decisions, including those involving finances.

It is the secretary general that directs Interpol’s day-to-day work.
Germany’s Juergen Stock was elected to the post in 2014 for a five-year term.

– Red Notices and other alerts –

One of the main roles of Interpol, which does not issue its own arrest
warrants or carry out its own investigations, is issuing notices requesting
cooperation from its members.

Of the eight grades of alert the most important is the Red Notice, which
informs members about a criminal wanted in one country and who may be in
another.

It is based on a national arrest warrant and any arrest is carried out by
police in the country concerned, at their discretion and without Interpol
influence.

A Blue Notice seeks to collect information about a person in relation to a
crime, while the Black Notice seeks to identify dead bodies.

The Special Notice was created in 2005 for individuals subject to UN
Security Council sanctions, such as asset freezes or travel bans.

Only about 30 percent of Interpol’s notices are made public.

– Vast crime databases –

Interpol also provides its member countries with access to various
databases that contain millions of criminal and other records.

One lists more than 205,000 records of known international criminals,
missing persons and dead bodies, according to figures on the agency’s site
from December 2017.

There is a database containing around 172,000 DNA profiles from 83
countries, and another with more than 182,000 sets of fingerprints.

A database created in 2015 lists more than 46,000 suspected foreign
terrorist fighters.

Another on child sexual exploitation has been used to identify 12,000
victims and 5,600 offenders, the site says.

There are also databases sharing information on stolen travel documents,
vehicles, artworks and firearms.

– International staff –

Interpol is mainly financed by its member nations, which contribute on a
scale proportional to their means, but it also receives contributions from
external donors.

In 2017 the United States was the main contributor to Interpol’s 124.3
million-euro ($141 million) budget with 10.6 million euros, followed by
Japan, Germany and France.

With seven regional bureaus, it employs about 800 staff members from 100
different countries, about a third deployed by their national authorities.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 1848 hrs