Interpol, the famous organization that issues “red notices”, is celebrating its hundredth anniversary today. The international criminal police organization was founded on September 7, 1923 in Vienna. Johann Schober (1874-1932), the director of the Viennese police, brought together representatives from twenty countries that day. Objective: to promote cooperation between police forces around the world.
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A century later, Interpol has come a long way. The criminal police organization now brings together 195 countries. However, its mission remains the same: to help fight all forms of crime while some of them, such as cybercrime, are intensifying.
Key role
For this 100th anniversary, Jürgen Stock, the secretary general of the organization, was keen to highlight the key role today of Interpol in front of the press. In a world that is now hyperconnected, it is impossible – in the eyes of the Secretary General – to fight only on a regional scale against different types of crime. According to him, only the international cooperation that the organization promotes can make it possible to obtain results. Example : ” A Slovak national wanted by the Czech Republic over a decade-old murder has been arrested in Argentina after images of the suspect were released to Interpol for comparison with our facial recognition database. »
With its 133 million records, Interpol’s databases are consulted 268 times per second by police around the world. Faced with more powerful organized crime, cybercrime and financial crime seen as the main threats of the moment, the organization has coordinated several large-scale operations.
Interpol headquarters remains in Lyon
One of these operations notably targeted, in West Africa, Black Axe, a mafia group which had become, according to Jürgen Stock, the symbol of online crime. At the same time, the Secretary General of Interpol wanted to be very clear about the controversial donation of fifty million euros recently made by the United Arab Emirates to the organization: “ The mechanism is always the same. It is not the country which makes this donation which will decide on Interpol’s priorities, it is the general assembly of the organization. »
Last clarification from Jürgen Stock: the headquarters of Interpol will remain in Lyon. Because the organization recently received the green light from the French government to expand and modernize its premises. This September 7 is also the first International Day of Police Cooperationas announced by the UN.
Read alsoWest Africa: vast police operation led by Interpol against mafia groups