Reports INTERPOL - General Assembly 77th INTERPOL General Assembly - 7 to 10 October 2008, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The ICPO-INTERPOL General Assembly, meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, from 7 to 10 October 2008 at its 77th session:

CONSIDERING the roll-out of INTERPOL's I-24/7 global police communications system to all member countries,

CONSIDERING the vital importance of extending access to this unique global police communications system to all national law enforcement agencies,

CONSIDERING the positive impact of INTERPOL’s I-24/7 communication network on the exchange of information between member countries and the General Secretariat in combating terrorism and tackling serious transnational crime effectively,

RECOGNIZING that international police co-operation is a decisive factor in confronting terrorism and related offences at an international level, as the lack of regular communication among the various authorities is advantageous to the terrorist organizations,

ACKNOWLEDGING INTERPOL’s significant development of data services and the importance of extending the accessibility to the databases by all national law enforcement agencies, in particular the Stolen and Lost Travel Document Database in border controls,

ACKNOWLEDGING that INTERPOL databases contain critical police information for national law enforcement agencies, including, but not limited to, investigative units, customs and intelligence agencies combating international crime,

RECOGNIZING the evolution of the Fusion Task Force’s restricted website as well as the forensic databases, such as fingerprints and DNA profiles, the value of this data in investigation procedures and the operational value of these databases and others such as Stolen Motor Vehicles, and Stolen or Lost Travel Documents,

CONSIDERING the value of the Fusion Task Force projects, and the Fusion Contact Officers network, as an integral solution to the problem of terrorism,

URGES all member countries, via their respective National Central Bureaus, to:

1. Continue their efforts to ensure maximum contributions from all their national law enforcement agencies to populate and regularly update INTERPOL’s databases and urge the users to regularly consult these databases, as well as the Fusion Task Force’s restricted website in terrorism-related matters. In particular, INTERPOL databases and the Fusion Task Force’s restricted website contain crucial information on fingerprints, DNA, stolen and lost travel documents, warning lists and photo galleries of suspected or wanted terrorists that can assist member countries in fostering international collaboration and exchanging information in the fight against terrorism;
2. Improve access to information in terrorist-related matters and extend INTERPOL services as soon as possible to the border police, investigative units, customs and intelligence agencies combating terrorism and serious transnational crime, via the I-24/7 network, through the implementation of Integrated Solutions (i.e. through the FIND or MIND platform or through extended access to the I-24/7 dashboard);
3. Nominate a Fusion Contact Officer as the central point of contact between the General Secretariat and INTERPOL member countries on terrorism-related matters, in order to facilitate and assist the timely and efficient sharing of information on all terrorism-related matters, ensuring that established points of contact are made within the terrorism units of each respective country.

Adopted