General Secretariat

The General Secretariat runs INTERPOL’s day-to-day activities to support member countries in their international policing.

INTERPOL is a membership-based organization, and the General Secretariat is the body that coordinates all our policing and administrative activities.

It is run by the Secretary General; currently Jürgen Stock of Germany, who was appointed by the General Assembly in November 2014.

There are around 1,000 staff, one-quarter of whom are law enforcement personnel seconded by their national administration. Staff work in any of the Organization's four languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

General Secretariat

The global nature of our work and of our membership means that a global presence is essential for the General Secretariat. It comprises the following:

Lyon headquarters

The headquarters in Lyon coordinates much of the policing expertise and services we provide to member countries. It is also the administrative and logistical centre of the Organization.

INTERPOL Lyon Headquarters
INTERPOL Lyon Headquarters

INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation

Based in Singapore since 2015, the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation is the centre of our activities in cybercrime, research and development, and capacity building. It also provides an Asian base for the Organization in several crime areas.

INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation - IGCI
INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation - IGCI

INTERPOL regional bureaus

Our six regional bureaus bring together police within a region to share experiences and tackle common crime issues:

  • Argentina (Buenos Aires)
  • Cameroon (Yaoundé)
  • Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan)
  • El Salvador (San Salvador)
  • Kenya (Nairobi)
  • Zimbabwe (Harare)

Representative and liaison offices

We have special representative offices at the African Union in Addis Ababa, the European Union in Brussels and the United Nations in New York.

We also have liaison offices at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, at Europol in the Hague, and for the Caribbean region in Bridgetown, Barbados.

This presence enables us to work closely with these entities who share our mission of preventing and combating transnational crime. We also develop joint efforts to enhance regional and global security.

Activities