As law enforcers faces challenges of unprecedented levels of complexity, the Secretary General of the international police body Interpol Jürgen Stock has underlined the need for a streamlined and cohesive response regionally and internationally.
In his address to the sixth European Police Chiefs Convention Mr Stock underscored the singular challenge facing police and border management authorities with increasing numbers of returning foreign terrorist fighters. Speaking at the Europol-hosted conference attended by some 450 police chiefs, senior law enforcement officers and academic experts from Europe and beyond, Mr Stock said the widespread effect of transnational organized crime and the constant emergence of new trends in cybercrime also placed enormous strain on police capacity.
He said: “The increasing impact of external factors on internal security make it vital to better understand the interdependencies of national and regional law enforcement within the global policing architecture. Different cooperation structures are emerging around the world to address these complex crime threats, but unless these bodies are connected we risk creating information silos and opportunities for criminals and terrorists to exploit.
“Equally, if countries are not part of this architecture and police do not have the capacity to react and respond to transnational crime threats, there is a real risk of criminal black holes being formed.
“We need to build bridges, connect specialized bodies around the world to create a coherent and strong architecture for global policing,” said the Head of INTERPOL, who also highlighted the value of non-traditional forms of cooperation for police.
Intelligence gathered by the military is increasingly useful to police in identifying terrorists and their material, says Interpol. Since 2006 it has compiled and analysed thousands of pieces of information and identifiers collected from conflict zones which has seen operational results in the field. Actionable intelligence provided by the private sector in the cyber arena has also proved important in identifying criminals attempting to hide behind the anonymity of the internet, Interpol adds.
A recent collaboration between INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission led to the arrest of the head of an international criminal network behind thousands of online frauds. The target was originally flagged to Interpol in a report from one of its partners in the private sector.
