Switzerland logged twice as many queries on the first day of the country’s expansion of direct access to selected INTERPOL databases to law enforcement agents in the field than all other INTERPOL member countries combined average in a month.

The country is the first to use the business-to-business (B2B) integrated solution developed by INTERPOL to expand access to the organization’s stolen travel documents and motor vehicles databases beyond the National Central Bureau (NCB).

It rolled out access to some 20,000 federal agents at border control points, customs and immigration offices and embassies and consulates on 13 December.

The INTERPOL stolen travel documents database contains almost 9 million records and the stolen motor vehicles database, more than 3 million.

‘This shows the immense potential of our databases when member countries open up access to front-line officers,’ said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble. ‘It increases the chance of police being able to catch terrorists and dangerous criminals attempting to cross borders with illegal documents.’

Officials estimate that Swiss police will make 1,900 queries per hour to the INTERPOL stolen travel documents database and 1,600 queries per hour to the stolen motor vehicles database during peak times.

The B2B integrated solution connects Swiss databases to those at INTERPOL’s General Secretariat, enabling police to verify instantly whether a travel document or motor vehicle is stolen or not.

Queries from remote users pass through the NCB to the national server and connect to the databases at the General Secretariat via INTERPOL’s I-24/7 electronic police communications system.

Law enforcement officers in the field have identified more than 800 stolen travel documents using INTERPOL’s database since 2002, while 16,500 motor vehicles to date have been identified as stolen thanks to the database, which was launched in 1996.

INTERPOL encourages police authorities in all member countries to make the databases available to authorised law enforcement officers at crucial locations such as border crossings and airports. Authorisation must be granted by NCBs, and all users must agree to the access rights and obligations prescribed by the organization.