Interpol: International police organization (founded 1923)

It began in 1923. Now, Interpol is the biggest international organization; the United Nations is the second biggest. Some important information about Interpol:

• Present Headquarters: Lyon, France
• Previous Headquarters: Saint Cloud, a town near Paris
• Total members: 195 countries
• Annual expenses: more than 30 million Euros - all member countries share the expenses

In 1923, Interpol begun its functioning from Austria. At that time, its name was International Criminal Police Commission (ICPM). During the Second World War, Nazi Germany controlled Austria. ICPM also came under Nazi control. They used it for collecting many types of information. After the Second World War, senior military men of Belgium, France, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom made many changes in ICPM. Thereafter, ICPM started to work in its new form.

In October 2018, then-President of Interpol Meng Hongwei was arrested by Chinese authorities after being accused of taking bribes.

The Interpol General Secretariat is the main office of Interpol. The highest-ranking officer of Interpol is the president. Just below him, there is a secretary general. In 2001, about 384 persons from 54 countries worked in this secretariat. Earlier the working time was from 9 o’clock in the morning till 5 o’clock in the evening. Now, this secretariat works all 24 hours without any break. In 2001, Interpol could help in arresting or finding out about 1400 persons, generally criminals.

Interpol does not take any political side in its work. It takes cases where the crime or the matter relates to more than one country. It looks after many types of cases. Some of them are note below:

• Terrorism
• Organized crime
• Illicit drug production
• Drug trafficking
• Weapons smuggling
• People smuggling
• Money laundering
• Child pornography
• Financial crime
• High-tech crime
• Political corruption

Over the years, Interpol has developed a method of its working. Each member country keeps a special office. The name of this office in every member country is National Central Bureau (NCB). If necessary, Interpol contacts this office for getting information or for any other action. In turn, the National Central Bureau gets in touch with Interpol (on behalf of the member country) to ask for any assistance.

Interpol also has collected a large amount of data about perpetrators and crimes. Such data includes information about illegal drug trade, lost and stolen passports and visas. Member countries may use the information. Officers of Interpol do not directly conduct any enquiry or investigation. This is always done through the policemen of the member country.

• Interpol has attracted attention of writers and movie directors. The organization has been depicted in many books, movies, and TV serials.
• There is a band called Interpol