What does Interpol do?

Interpol made the news in late November when it elected a new president, Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi. The global police agency is a common plot device in cop shows and movies, but what does it do? To understand that, it helps to know where it came from. In the 19th century, people wanted to create some way for police to cooperate across countries’ borders. An early version of Interpol was formed in Vienna in 1923, focused on international crimes like passport forgeries and currency counterfeiting. In 1938, the Nazis marched into the Austrian capital. They took over the organization and moved it to Berlin. But their control ended with the end of World War II. The organization changed its name to the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, in 1956. Today, it is based in France and has more than 190 member countries, including Japan. Interpol helps police agencies from different countries talk to each other, and shares information from its own databases. Interpol cannot arrest people. One of its key roles is to issue “red notices” — these are like wanted notices. They are requests for countries to find and arrest a person, ideally so they can be taken back to the country that wants them to face a trial. However, red notices have no legal power. When Carlos Ghosn fled Japan for Lebanon in December 2019, Interpol issued a red notice for him. But Lebanon decided not to arrest the former Nissan CEO, saying he committed no crime in Lebanon. The country has no extradition treaty with Japan. Still, red notices aren’t toothless. They make travel difficult, and Western banks may refuse to handle the finances of the target of a red notice. Interpol remains an important part of the fight against international crime. (T) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.