The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), or Interpol, provides cross-border support and facilitates cooperation among law enforcement agencies in 196 member countries. Support areas include database assistance and liaising between agencies in different states, extending jurisdictional control when pursuing criminals across international boundaries.
On an operational level, secure 24/7 police communication services take place over a centralized command and coordination center (CCC) with access to global databases. It comprises fingerprints, names, DNA profiles, photographs, stolen vehicles, and illicit weapons. They also include stolen and lost identification and travel documents (SLTD).
The six priority crime areas Interpol handles are financial and high-tech crime, drugs and organized crime, corruption, public safety and terrorism, fugitives, and trafficking in human beings. The agency also delivers assistance in intellectual property and environmental crime. It has resources for tracking crime trends and tracing criminal networks.
Another focus of Interpol is transportation security, which affects many nations, including maritime piracy and related issues of trafficking, smuggling, and immigration. The Lyon, France-based agency provides police forces in developing member nations with forensic resources for investigations and training for complex investigations.
Interpol has significant limitations since it serves as an administrative liaison across international law enforcement agencies rather than a police force. It does not abide by any international treaty, and its agents do not perform search, seizure, or arrest tasks. Interpol does not maintain a jail for housing suspects and convicted criminals. Furthermore, Interpol articles prevent the organization from taking part in activities or interventions with military, political, religious, or ethnic dimensions.
The degree to which Interpol coordinates law enforcement activities in specific cases depends on multilateral and bilateral agreements between member states and their particular criminal justice systems.
Nonetheless, the organization has expanded its cybercrime efforts and the global and often geographically dispersed criminal gangs involved. An Interpol specialist views member countries as a pyramid, with 30 to 40 nations possessing advanced capabilities for tackling cybercrime. While these countries can manage complete investigations, they may not have friendly terms with the nations that harbor illegal cyber criminals and activities. Therefore, Interpol functions as a neutral go-between, allowing them to safely and discretely collaborate on shared issues up and down the capacity pyramid.
The cybercrime program has three components. The Cybercrime Threat Response aggregates information and data from private sector and law enforcement partners worldwide. The intel division issues threat advisories and threat assessment reports. Next, the Cyber Strategy and Capabilities Development division focuses on training and outreach that extends to nations with minimal capacity for tackling cybercrime. Finally, Cybercrime Operations pursue takedowns of compromised IT infrastructure. The divisions function across four regional operations desks: Europe, Asia & the South Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.
When member countries prioritize capturing a specific criminal or gang, they issue red notices. Then, law enforcement agencies worldwide receive them as requests to locate the suspects and place them under provisional arrest. Though rare and extensively investigated, in some instances, abuses of red notices have occurred, such as attempts to detain and extradite enemies of non-democratic states such as China, Russia, and the UAE. In May 2024, The Guardian revealed that a past Rwandan justice minister had presided over a trio of cases where Interpol detained, declared wanted or deported suspects “on dubious grounds.”
