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INTERPOL is keen to expand access to its global databases beyond its current National Central Bureaus to all law enforcement officers working in its member countries. Since its creation in 1923 membership has grown to 186 countries.
"The reality of policing in the 21st century is that any major investigation should include the consultation of regional and global databases. The days of thinking that we can thoroughly investigate serious crime using national resources alone are behind us," said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
Highlighting the regional successes of Operation Soga, which tackled illegal soccer gambling in Southeast Asia, and Operation Jupiter Southeast Asia, which targeted pharmaceutical counterfeiting in the Greater Mekong region, Nobel said that although the rate of information exchange had greatly increased, member countries needed to remain committed to continued cooperation both at the regional and global level.
"The imminent linking of ASEANAPOL's database to INTERPOL's secure global communications system, I-24/7, connecting 186 member countries, will assist police forces in Asia to identify crucial leads in their major international investigations that they otherwise might miss," Nobel said.
Addressing the conference delegates, China's Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Hong Wei reiterated that globalization had made Asia and the South Asian Pacific region share common concerns in dealing with transnational crime and hence cooperation was both essential and imperative.
"The purpose of this biennial INTERPOL Asian Regional Conference is to provide an effective platform for all parties concerned in enhancing understanding, strengthening relationships, sharing experience and planning for the future. With the efforts of all parties concerned, topics discussed in the meeting are more pertinent to actual needs and suggestions raised are more pragmatic. All these are positive contributions to the development of a better policing cooperation in the region," Meng said.
Operation Soga, launched in October 2007 with INTERPOL's coordination and support, involved National Central Bureaus and sub-bureaus in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The joint effort led to the arrests of 432 individuals and the closure of 272 underground gambling dens, netting more than US$680 million in illegal bets.
In contrast, police in China and Myanmar, with INTERPOL's support, carried out Operation Jupiter-Southeast Asia. The operation resulted in the arrests of four key suspects involved in the distribution of fake anti-malarial medicines across the China-Myanmar border and the seizure of at least 24,720 boxes of counterfeit drugs. According to World Health Organization estimates, as much as 30 percent of medicines sold in some areas of Southeast Asia are counterfeit.
Besides the cooperative efforts of member countries, INTERPOL has also recognized public assistance as a strong force to pin down the identities and locations of suspected criminals. Although its databases containing sensitive information are strictly for law enforcement agencies and not the public, photos of criminals and offenders are displayed on a case-by-case basis, to trace their origins.
Despite the success of such efforts, where the public has given information without violating any rights, INTERPOL is concerned about personal data and privacy issues and therefore very reluctant to open its databases to more public use.
Deliberations and discussions at the conference will take place behind closed doors, attended only by delegates and observers invited by INTERPOL. Themes to be addressed include tracing and apprehending sex offenders, especially child sex offenders, enhancing cooperation in cyber crime investigations, and improving the flow of information about transnational and organized intellectual property crimes.
For INTERPOL -- whose main task is facilitating cross-border police cooperation in preventing and combating crime -- cyber crime is an area of prime concern. "Trying to figure out how to share information to investigate cases in a multi-jurisdiction way is a challenge," said Nobel.
Cyber "terror," where individuals are able to enter computer systems or networks of countries and businesses around the world and create havoc with the data therein, is another minefield for the agency. "How can we set up defenses to limit that, and if in fact it occurs, how can we determine the origin of it, are the two areas that we hope to focus on the most," Nobel said.
While cyber crimes may be complicated to deal with, given the loose jurisdictional nature and structure of the Internet, tracing and apprehending sex offenders is an equally complex and delicate issue for the agency. According to Nobel, the big question is how to share information with police in targeted regions where known victims are, so they can protect their citizens without violating the privacy and personal data rights of individuals under investigation or charged with sex offenses in their home country.
INTERPOL is committed to inventing ways to exchange information between its member states and helping each member country attain the technological capacity needed to fight crime effectively. However, it takes no position on the laws of individual countries. Each country decides which of its laws may have been violated and what kind of assistance it needs from INTERPOL in determining how to investigate the possible violation of those laws.
While Nobel admits that "the threats facing us have become more varied and severe," the irony is that the agency has had to fight corruption allegations within its own ranks. In January of this year, Jackie Selebi resigned as president of INTERPOL over corruption allegations related to his capacity as National Commissioner of South Africa's Police Service. While the allegations had no connection with his role at INTERPOL, he could not continue to head the agency in light of its strong stand against corruption.
"Corruption is one of the most serious offenses that any police official can be accused of and INTERPOL has taken a number of significant steps to help law enforcement in our member countries investigate and fight this type of crime," said Nobel. Although the agency believes in prosecuting such allegations before a court of law rather than responding to speculation and media leaks, the message to law enforcement agencies is clear and crisp.
For the "Men in Black" at the conference, playing cop is no easy task. Apprehending a criminal is sometimes the work of years of investigation and cooperation, let alone breaking up an international gang. Still, with cyber tools and a worldwide network at their command, the odds of winning the fight against crime are decidedly improving.
