Timeframe: 2017-2023
Budget: Euro 28 million
Donor: European Union
The Situation
Many of the 16 countries in West Africa sit on the Atlantic Ocean, making the region especially attractive to criminals as a transit hub between Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Improving security in West Africa is therefore of global interest, and essential in order to combat the crimes currently affecting the region such as drug trafficking, people smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.
Project aims
The West Africa Police Information System (WAPIS) Programme is implemented by INTERPOL with funding from the European Union. Its aim is to strengthen information exchange and coordination among the region’s law enforcement agencies in the following ways:
- Enable police officers in West African countries to access critical police information from their national criminal databases and from databases of countries across the region, thus improving the identification of criminals and supporting ongoing investigations.
- Improve analysis of the problems of transnational organized crime and terrorism facing the region and allow a better understanding of crime originating in, coming from and transiting through West Africa.
- Allow greater police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the region, the European Union and the rest of the world.
Project activities
The programme supports the efforts of national authorities and ECOWAS in improving the security of citizens in West Africa and is being implemented at three levels: national, regional and global.
National level
WAPIS provides local law enforcement authorities with an electronic national police information system allowing them to create, manage and share files connected to crimes and offences. Data includes:
- Criminal cases and events;
- Suspects, victims and witnesses;
- Legal proceedings;
- Weapons and objects;
- Vehicles;
- Identity documents.
Regional level
National systems are networked into a regional information sharing platform for police. This allows the instant exchange of authorized police data among countries of the region, thereby enhancing cooperation and rapid police action.
Another advantage of this centralized system is that police can collate crime statistics more easily and analyze trends affecting the region. The insights are used to develop effective anti-crime strategies.
Global level
Each national police data system is connected to INTERPOL’s secure, global police communications system (I-24/7) through the country’s National Central Bureau. As such, officers can share authorized national data globally and perform checks against INTERPOL’s databases.
This capacity has the potential to reveal connections between crimes and criminals that would not previously have been possible. For example, an officer performing a name check on a national suspected of drug trafficking may learn that the individual is wanted by another country, beyond the region, for similar criminal activities.
Interconnection via INTERPOL’s I-24/7 helps strengthen the operational link between West African law enforcement and the rest of the world, which is crucial to effectively combating transnational organized crime and terrorism.
EU funding
The Programme has been fully funded by the European Union since its outset in 2012, first under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP),then under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
In July 2015, the EU and ECOWAS agreed to further support the full rollout of the WAPIS System in all ECOWAS countries and Mauritania under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF, EU-West Africa Regional Indicative Programme). EDF support has been available since November 2017 and has been extended beyond the initial 55 months until November 2023. It will cover activities in all ECOWAS countries and Mauritania.
Project updates
June 2023 - Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Monrovia, Liberia.
May 2023 - Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Praia, Cabo Verde.
March 2023 - Official inauguration of the Integrated Criminal Information System Center (ICIS – WAPIS DACORE) in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.
January 2023: Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Guinea (Conakry).
October 2022: More than 450,000 items of data were registered in the WAPIS and 750 agents were trained on the system.
May 2022: Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Senegal (Dakar).
April 2022: Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Togo (Lomé).
March 2022: Launch of the AFIS project funded by the European Union and implemented by INTERPOL with the support of CIVIPOL for a period of 33 months
January 2022: Official inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Sierra Leone (Freetown)
June 2018: Official launch ceremony of the third phase of WAPIS attended by the Vice President of Côte d’Ivoire, INTERPOL’s Secretary General, the EU Ambassador in Côte d’Ivoire and the Ministries in charge of security from the 16 West African countries.
November 2017: Under the 11th European Development Fund, WAPIS entered its third phase which lasted for 55 months with the full rollout in all ECOWAS member states and Mauritania.
September 2016: Launch of the national WAPIS and inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Center in Ghana (Accra).
May 2016: The Programme entered a 15-month intermediary phase under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, initiating work with Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Mauritania.
September 2015: Inauguration of the Data Collection and Registration Centers in Mali, Niger and Benin.
September 2013: Start of the second phase of WAPIS and its implementation in four pilot countries (Benin, Ghana, Niger, Mali) under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
September 2012: Launch of the first phase of the WAPIS Programme.
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