Historic INTERPOL General Assembly in Rome calls for stronger partnerships in combating crime

ROME, Italy – INTERPOL’s 81st General Assembly, the largest ever in the Organization’s history with more than 1,000 delegates from 170 countries, is calling on law enforcement to work closer together and develop partnerships in order to achieve sustainable success in identifying and combating future crime threats.

The four-day conference (5 – 8 November) was  launched with a Ministerial meeting attended by some 100 global leaders who endorsed a joint declaration recognizing the need to identify viable strategies to effectively address the changing modes of contemporary criminal violence.

Addressing the meeting, Italy’s Minister of the Interior Annamaria Cancellieri described INTERPOL’s global role as ‘evermore demanding and important’ and underlined the strategic importance of the conference: “INTERPOL’s General Assembly  will consider possible responses of states to transnational crime issues such as terrorism at a time when it is no longer possible  to differentiate between internal and external security policies.”

INTERPOL President Khoo Boon Hui told the delegates that today’s intricately connected and interdependent people, societies and markets had created a more complex crime landscape.

“Increasingly, the international community and industry players will look to us as the voice of reason and the agent of change to make the world a better place.  INTERPOL has recognized the need to collaborate with a whole range of partners in the public and private sectors to deal with emerging threats, such as environmental crime, counterfeiting and trafficking.

“The challenges we face arising from the growing complexity of crime are opportunities for us to prove our mettle as the world’s largest police organization.  We have the systems, processes, databases, innovative tools and partnerships in place, with prospects of more effective ones to come,” concluded President Khoo.

In his opening remarks to the INTERPOL General Assembly, Prefect Antonio Manganelli, Italy’s Chief of Police and Director of Public Security, said the conference would serve as a platform for laying down ‘forward-looking’ security guidelines via INTERPOL’s global network.

“Countries need to harmonize their security policies and to speak the same security language. We are here to identify and discuss first and foremost the most recent forms of criminal violence  and how to combat violence so as to guarantee security for citizens,” said Prefect Manganelli.

Among the topics to be discussed by police chiefs and other senior law enforcement officials from around the world are border security, organized crime, fugitive investigations, stolen works of art, cybercrime and the increased use of technology in policing.