INTERPOL

International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL is the largest international police organization, with 194 member countries worldwide (in terms of membership, it is the second largest global organization after the United Nations).

It was established in 1923 with the aim to facilitate international police cooperation, as well as to provide support and assistance to all organizations, services, and agencies tasked with preventing and combating international crime.

VISION:
“Connecting police for a safer world” – INTERPOL’s vision is a world where all law enforcement officers can safely communicate, share, and receive critical police information through INTERPOL whenever needed, ensuring the safety of citizens worldwide. INTERPOL constantly provides and promotes innovative and modern solutions to global challenges in policing and security.

MISSION:
“Preventing and combating crime through enhanced cooperation and innovation in policing and security matters.”

INTERPOL facilitates the broadest possible mutual assistance among criminal justice services. It ensures that police forces worldwide can communicate securely and provides direct access to police data and information globally. It offers operational support in specific crime areas. INTERPOL continuously works on improving police capacities in crime prevention and combating, and the development of skills necessary for effective international police action.

RULES FOR COOPERATION:

• Article 3 of the Statute prohibits INTERPOL from undertaking any actions or mediations that have political, religious, racial, or military significance;

• Cooperation is exclusively related to so-called ordinary criminal acts;

• Every request must state the reason for collecting the necessary information and must clearly specify the exact criminal offense.

The organizational structure of INTERPOL consists of:

• General Assembly (GA),

• Executive Committee (EC),

• General Secretariat,

• National Central Bureaus (NCBs), and

• Advisors.

The General Assembly and the Executive Committee form the governing body of the organization, which is led by the President, elected by the General Assembly for a four-year term. His role is to chair the GA and EC sessions and to ensure that INTERPOL’s activities comply with the decisions made at these meetings.

The General Assembly (GA) is the highest body, composed of delegates appointed by each member country. The GA meets once a year in different locations worldwide and makes all major political decisions as well as decisions related to resources, working methods, finances, activities, and programs of INTERPOL. The GA also elects the Executive Committee. Generally, this body makes decisions by a simple majority in the form of resolutions.

The Executive Committee (EC) is the executive body of INTERPOL, consisting of 13 members elected by the General Assembly. The President of the Organization, also elected by the GA, chairs the EC. In addition to the President, the EC includes three Vice Presidents and nine delegates. Members of the EC must come from different countries, ensuring geographical representation (Article 15 of INTERPOL’s Statute). The President is elected for four years by a two-thirds majority, and if a majority is not achieved after the second vote, a simple majority is sufficient. Vice Presidents are elected for three years by a simple majority. Each country has one vote. In performing their duties, all EC members are considered representatives of the Organization and not representatives of their countries. The EC meets at least once a year (Article 20 of INTERPOL’s Statute), usually two to three times a year.

Functions of the Executive Committee (Article 22):

• Control over the execution of the decisions of the General Assembly (GA),

• Preparation of the agenda for the GA sessions,

• Submission of proposals and work programs to the GA,

• Supervision of the work of the General Secretary, and

• Performing other tasks entrusted by the GA.
  
  

The General Secretariat is located in Lyon, France, and it consists of the Secretary General, administrative and technical staff of the Secretariat.

The General Secretariat operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in the organization’s four official languages: Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. The Secretariat has six regional offices in Argentina, Ivory Coast, El Salvador, Kenya, Thailand, and Zimbabwe, as well as a Liaison Office at the United Nations.

The Secretariat is divided into four departments covering administrative affairs, police affairs, research, and technical assistance.

The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary General, who is appointed by the General Assembly for a term of five years with the possibility of re-election. The Secretary General is essentially the head of the organization and is responsible for the daily international police cooperation and implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly and Executive Committee.

According to the Statute (Article 30), the Secretary General and the staff of the Secretariat are independent of the governments of the states that delegate them and must not consult with them or act on their instructions.

The scope of work of the Secretariat is very broad and complex and covers various activities:

• Implements the decisions of the General Assembly and the Executive Committee,

• Acts as an international center in the fight against general crime,

• Communicates with national and international bodies and authorities regarding criminal investigations,

• Exchanges documentation and information, and

• Issues operational, scientific, and professional publications, etc.

National Central Bureaus (NCBs) – through them flows the core of INTERPOL’s operations. The government of each member state is required to appoint a permanent body that acts as the center of all INTERPOL communications. The NCB represents the organization within the member country and simultaneously represents the member country within the organization. Each country organizes the NCB as separate services within the ministries of internal affairs or justice, or as separate independent bodies. The NCB provides liaison with:

• various services within its country,

• other NCBs, and

• the General Secretariat of the organization.

The NCBs implement INTERPOL’s decisions, initiate activities before domestic police authorities that are relevant to international police cooperation, collect and exchange documentation and information about offenders, channel INTERPOL’s operational investigative activities in cooperation with other national bodies and other NCBs, as well as with the services of the General Secretariat, and assist in realizing other forms of cooperation such as extradition and criminal legal assistance in court cases.

NCBs serve as contact points for foreign authorities to facilitate the complexity of positive legal regulations through the institutions with which cooperation must be established.

Advisors are experts who have an advisory role in studying certain scientific issues (Article 34). They may be appointed by the Executive Committee and confirmed by the General Assembly. These are individuals who have an international reputation and prestige in one of the fields of interest to the organization.

The three main functions of INTERPOL are:

A) Providing reliable, global police communication services – through its information system – I/24-7, INTERPOL enables its member countries, via the NCBs, to exchange emails, use multiple WEB services, and have direct access to central criminal databases.

B) Providing use of databases – e-ASF (Automatic Search Facility) – INTERPOL manages multiple databases that provide police worldwide with information that can help in investigations and crime prevention. The databases contain important information on persons, fingerprints, DNA profiles, images related to child pornography, stolen/lost passports, stolen vehicles, stolen artifacts, all accessible via the I/24-7 system.

C) Operational police support – INTERPOL strives to enhance the role of the NCBs and regional offices by adapting the work of the General Secretariat to their needs, especially in operational activity in priority crime areas: public safety and terrorism, drugs and organized crime, human trafficking, financial and cybercrime, and international wanted persons.

Cooperation of the Republic of North Macedonia with INTERPOL

The Republic of North Macedonia became a member of INTERPOL at the General Assembly held in Aruba in 1993. In accordance with Article 32 of the INTERPOL Constitution, the NCB INTERPOL Skopje was established.

Since 1993, North Macedonia, through the NCB INTERPOL Skopje, has cooperated with all 194 member countries of INTERPOL, as well as with the General Secretariat in Lyon, following the prescribed standards for the work of this largest international police organization.

In 2003, the NCB INTERPOL Skopje was systematized as a separate department within the Sector for International Police Cooperation, Bureau for Public Security.

Since April 2003, the NCB INTERPOL Skopje has been directly connected to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 information system, through which electronic mail exchange with other NCBs takes place, as well as the use of multiple WEB services provided by this system, including direct access to INTERPOL’s central criminal databases and electronic issuance of international wanted notices.

NCB INTERPOL Skopje actively participates in feeding global databases with information on persons, vehicles, documents, art objects, etc.

Within the department, police officers work in criminal lines such as: searches for motor vehicles, illicit drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, financial crime, cybercrime, violent crime and terrorism, as well as identification of persons and document verification.

Operational cooperation through INTERPOL occurs through the exchange of police information, knowledge, and data, as well as through active and continuous participation of Ministry of Interior experts in INTERPOL working groups.

In cooperation with the INTERPOL General Secretariat in Lyon, France, the NCB INTERPOL Skopje department participates in projects, supports joint investigations, exchanges information during international operations initiated by the INTERPOL General Secretariat. At the invitation of the General Secretariat, representatives from the Ministry of Interior attend conferences, meetings, and seminars where experiences, good practices are exchanged, and future activities to improve mutual cooperation are agreed upon.