INTERPOL creates new international alert notice.

24 February 2004

LYON, France -- INTERPOL has created a new international notice in order to warn police, public institutions and other international organizations about potential threats posed by disguised weapons, parcel bombs and other dangerous objects or materials.

The new alert, to be called an Orange Notice, will contain information about and images of objects, materials or other threats that would be of concern to security officials at the world's institutions and organizations.

Orange Notices, the first new INTERPOL notice to be created since 1946, would be issued from the General Secretariat in Lyon, France, via the organization's National Central Bureaus in its 181 member countries. INTERPOL already issues a series of colour-coded notices, including the famous Red Notice for wanted international fugitives.

INTERPOL will also now examine ways to help international organizations and public institutions to set up a secure system to communicate with each other on security matters, using technology developed by INTERPOL for its state of the art international police communications network.

'The architecture of INTERPOL's I-24/7 global communications system possesses the flexibility to permit security officials in selected institutions to share information about potential threats, but without also giving them access to INTERPOL's police databases containing confidential or sensitive information and intelligence,' INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said.

One of INTERPOL's core functions is to provide police with the capacity to instantly reach law enforcement contact points around the world. INTERPOL believes that security officials in international institutions are also in need of rapid access to information about disguised weapons, suspect packages and other objects or threats in order to keep their institutions safe. The new Orange Notice and development of a secure communications network will help them do that, Mr. Noble said.

Mr. Noble made the announcement about the Orange Notice at an INTERPOL-sponsored meeting in Lyon of security officials and senior representatives from more than 30 international organizations, including the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the World Bank. The meeting was called to further enhance co-operation between INTERPOL and such organizations in order to fight terrorism and prevent disaster and loss of lives.

Mr. Noble said he hoped that many institutions would join the effort to create the communications structure and use it to share important security information among themselves and with INTERPOL. He said INTERPOL would also encourage them to make better use of its public website, where many Red Notices for international fugitives are listed and, if approved by INTERPOL member countries, the new Orange Notices would also be listed.