INTERPOL – What is Interpol and what is its structure?
Understanding the Mission behind Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization, which is more commonly known as INTERPOL is one of the most significant organizations that is working on the global level towards combating international crime.
What is INTERPOL?
INTERPOL is the second-largest international organization after the United Nations in terms of international representation. It consists of a total of 194 member countries who are working towards ensuring assistance and cooperation in terms of international policing and other matters related to security.
It is Headquartered in Lyon, France.
What is the mission?
The INTERPOL’s mission is to work towards the prevention of crime and fight crime through enhanced cooperation and innovation on police as well as security matters.
The history
It began on 7 September 1923 as International Criminal Police Commission and in the year 1956, it became International Criminal Police Organization-INTERPOL. However, the idea of INTERPOL dates back to 1914 at the first International Criminal Police Congress in Monaco.
What is the structure?
According to article 5 of the Organisation’s Constitution, the INTERPOL comprises of 6 bodies that help in its functioning-
- The General Assembly
- The Executive Committee
- The General Secretariat
- The National Central Bureaus
- The Advisers
- The Commission for the Control of Files
The Secretariat operates year around 24 hours a day.
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It also has seven regional bureaus in-
- Argentina (Buenos Aires)
- Cameroon (Yaoundé)
- Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan)
- El Salvador (San Salvador)
- Kenya (Nairobi)
- Thailand liaison office (Bangkok)
- Zimbabwe (Harare)
India and INTERPOL
The National Central Bureaus are bodies that are present in each member country. They ensure better connection and active cooperation. The NCB in India is the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). The CBI is under the Central Government, Department of Personnel & Training.
India is one of the oldest members to have joined the organization in 1949.
What are INTERPOL Notices?
This has been seen in the news recently and is an important mechanism. These notices are requests for cooperation or alerts that help in sharing information between the police force in member countries. The different notices are-
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