SINGAPORE – An historic agreement between INTERPOL and the Asean Chiefs of Police (Aseanapol) means that information stored in the electronic Aseanapol Database System (e-ADS) will be accessible to law enforcement worldwide via INTERPOL’s secure global police communications system, I-24/7.
The declaration signed during the 27th Aseanapol conference in Singapore also means that any searches made of the e-ADS database will be automatically run against INTERPOL’s nominal, Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) and Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) databases.
It is the first time that INTERPOL has agreed to share these databases with another regional or international entity on a real-time basis.
‘This agreement is an excellent example of the value that INTERPOL can add both to member countries as well as regional organizations such as Aseanapol,’ said INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin.
‘But the real benefit is to the individual law enforcement officer, those in the Asean region who can now instantly check international data on stolen and lost travel documents, stolen vehicles and wanted persons, and those officers in our National Central Bureaus around the world who can now access criminal information from the e-ADS which was only previously available to Asean countries.”
Aseanapol welcomed the agreement as ‘a symbolic act which reflects the call for international co-operation within the policing community.’
‘We cannot match the reach and resources of INTERPOL, especially where their databases are concerned. We are able, through our links with them and through our Aseanapol joint database, to tap into this database seamlessly,’ said Khoo Boon Hui, Singapore Police Force Commissioner and INTERPOL Vice President for Asia.
‘The significant development this year is increasing the engagement of our dialogue partners. They are the ones who have been contributing significantly in terms of expertise as well as equipment to some of our countries and in this way, we are bringing in new capabilities to the region.’
The Asean Chiefs of Police also highlighted the need for further co-operation with INTERPOL in areas such as combating organized crime in the Asian region, with a global conference to be held in Singapore in 2008, and also in the development of building crisis-management capability.