9 February 2010
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Mission statement With a view to supporting INTERPOL’s core functions and activities, the Directorate will focus its activities on three main areas:
Detailed description of activities
Activity After the 17 service standards had been adopted at the 63rd General Assembly session held in Rome in 1994, member countries suggested a mechanism for implementing the service. The European region adopted a peer evaluation mechanism in 1999 in order to implement the service standards. The evaluation yielded a number of positive results ranging from enhanced status of the NCBs to the allocation of additional resources. Discussion with member countries during many INTERPOL meetings on the European mechanism has generated strong support. It is against this background that it was decided to extend the exchange of good practice between NCBs to other regions based on different processes to be adopted for each region. The exchange of good practice programme began with a pilot scheme in 2004 in which volunteer NCBs were requested to participate in the exchange of best practice, and the scheme is being fully implemented in all INTERPOL regions. All INTERPOL’s NCBs will have been visited before the end of 2009. Objectives The Exchange of Good Practice Programme is aimed at enhancing the status and role of NCBs and increasing countries’ contribution to and use of the General Secretariat's databases.
Outcome Based on the recommendations produced by the good practice teams and the good practice identified in the countries visited, we intend to increase the resources of our NCBs, to enhance their position within their national police structures and to meet the INTERPOL Services Standards required in order to provide a minimum of services to the international police community. When necessary, INTERPOL also provides equipment to those NCBs which lack resources.
Activity The work performed by the network of contact officers throughout the world has resulted in many urgent cases being solved by our member countries. In 2006, contact officers network meetings were organized in Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa, with participants from a total of 57 countries. Objectives The contact officers’ network has been created to facilitate immediate assistance between NCBs in urgent cases. Outcome Details, names and telephone numbers of contact officers for Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas are now posted on the INTERPOL dashboard for the use of all NCBs.
Activity The NCB staff training courses organized by the NCB & Regional Police Services Directorate were carried out aimed at improving the ability of the officers to perform their duties satisfactorily with regard to the requirements of international police co-operation and the range of services developed at INTERPOL. Objectives The main objective is to identify needs and assist in the implementation of NCB training programmes, co-ordinate member countries' training needs and ensure new and existing NCB staff are well informed and fully aware of:
Outcome The positive result of the training courses is the improvement in the quality and volume of messages most of our NCBs are now exchanging. This is clear from the increase in the amount of data entered in the INTERPOL database and increased use of the database.
Activity A seminar consists of a one or two-day general programme with presentations on INTERPOL's goals, structure and role, I-24/7 secure global police communications services (Dashboard, expansion, etc.), operational databases, crime programmes and projects, operational support provided by INTERPOL to major international events and incidents, structure and role of the NCB and key activities at national level. An INTERPOL Awareness Seminar is generally organized in a country at the request of the NCB concerned. The NCB defines the contents of the seminar in close co-operation with the General Secretariat, and is responsible for inviting representatives from national law enforcement agencies, customs and immigration at different levels (managers, operational units, specialized units, etc.). This activity can equally be applied to international police academies worldwide as part of their regular training curricula. Objectives The aim of this activity is to increase national knowledge of INTERPOL's core functions and activities to:
Outcome Greater awareness of INTERPOL’s services by national law enforcement departments leads to an immediate increase in the use of the NCBs by the national police community, which directly impacts the volume and efficiency of information exchange at national and international level.
There are RBs in Abidjan (serving West Africa), Buenos Aires (South America), Harare (Southern Africa), Nairobi (East Africa), San Salvador (Central America) and Yaoundé (Cameroon). In addition, there is a Liaison office in Bangkok, serving Southeast Asia. The duties of the RBs are the same as those of the General Secretariat, but each RB deals with regional issues – based on its geographic proximity – since it is best placed to provide the most appropriate response in any particular situation. Staffing The RB staff are generally recruited from within the region and their number and role can vary, depending on the specific needs, goals and priorities of each region. Generally, they comprise the following:
Legal status The Regional Bureaus and their staff are subject to the same rules and provisions as the General Secretariat – these functions and duties are defined in Article 26 of the Constitution, in the Financial Regulations, Staff Regulations and Rules, etc. There are also provisions specific to the RBs concerning, inter alia, the delegation of financial powers and the Staff Regulations, which take account of the differences from one duty station to another. RB activities Select a link above for specific details of each RB and its activities. Regional Bureaus and National Central Bureaus The RBs should not be confused with the National Central Bureaus (NCBs), which are INTERPOL bureaus in each member country. RBs and Regional Police Chiefs Committees
In other regions where police chiefs committees exist, the RBs are building closer ties where relations have not been formally established. This is the case in:
Relations between the RBs and the SPCPC (South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference) and the ACCP (Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police) are managed directly from the Organization's Headquarters in Lyon. Modernization of the RBs INTERPOL began to modernize its RBs in 2005 with a programme that involves standardizing working equipment, installing video-conference and IP telephone facilities, and giving them access to INTERPOL’s Intranet and message handling system. This process has speeded up the sharing of information and effectiveness among RBs and with NCBs and the General Secretariat.
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