INTERPOL Intelligence Operations: Combating Drug and Human Trafficking

Introduction

INTERPOL tackles two forms of international felonies. The first is ordinary crime committed in a foreign country that becomes an international matter because the culprit is a foreigner in the affected country. The second is organized crime that occurs in at least two countries. In the first case, INTERPOL ensures collaboration between member nations regarding the issuance of incarceration and extradition notices. It is due to the second crime form, however, that INTERPOL currently maintains a system which aggressively prevents and responds to organized crime (Interpol, 2017; Fooner, 2013). Human trafficking, property crime, war crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, financial crime, technology crime, fraud, and environmental crime are just some of the many activities that fall within the scope of transnational crime. Terrorism, war crime, and cybercrime, however, have garnered the most attention in recent years.

INTERPOL's Core Functions

INTERPOL's mission and primary duty is to support police forces in its member nations regarding crime prevention as well as the effective and efficient execution of criminal investigations. Therefore, INTERPOL, in collaboration with the National Central Bureaus (NCBs), encourages police collaboration across national borders and equally supports every organization, service, or authority established to stop or prevent crime (Ratcliffe, 2009). To achieve these objectives, INTERPOL carries out all of its operations under the guiding principles of four core functions or services.

The first service, known as Secure Global Police Communications Services, is a fundamental condition for effective international police collaboration. It is essential that police forces around the world have the ability to communicate with one another, both routinely and through secure channels. Recognizing the importance of high-quality communication in today's highly technical world, INTERPOL developed and established a cutting-edge worldwide communication system for use by law enforcement agencies. This system is called "I-24/7" — with "I" representing INTERPOL and "24/7" meaning 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Interpol, 2017; Fooner, 2013; Anderson, 1997). The I-24/7 system is a special gateway providing access to all INTERPOL archives and itself contains a rich collection of expert intelligence on a wide range of crime situations. Consequently, I-24/7 is an extremely important resource not only for the NCBs but also for the investigative, control, and analytical units within the police forces of different nations.

Once police are able to communicate effectively at the international level, they require access to intelligence to assist their investigations or to identify the most appropriate methods for preventing crime. This need is addressed by INTERPOL's second major service — Operational Data Services and Databases for Police. In the battle against multinational crime, international police collaboration depends heavily on information. If timely, relevant, accurate, and complete information is not properly gathered and distributed, collaboration will be significantly impaired or may even become impossible (Barnett & Coleman, 2005). To address this, INTERPOL has created an extensive collection of global databases containing important information such as the names of dangerous criminals and suspects, photographs, records of stolen vehicles, wanted person requests, weapons connected to criminal incidents, fingerprints, and DNA profiles.

The third core service is Operational Police Support Services, defined as the provision of INTERPOL expertise, knowledge, and best practices to every organization, authority, and service globally that is established to stop, identify, and investigate crime. By providing these resources, INTERPOL helps improve the operations of NCBs and regional offices, which in turn enhances INTERPOL's awareness of and responsiveness to their needs (Interpol, 2017). Activities under this service include emergency support and other operations relevant to the organization's major crime areas, which encompass public safety and terrorism, human trafficking, high-tech and financial crime, and organized crime and illicit substances (Wirtz & Sullivan, 2009). These Support Services also include the collection, study, and evaluation of intelligence submitted by INTERPOL's member nations to its headquarters. When requested, INTERPOL can further enhance its support for member nations by deploying officers with specific law enforcement expertise to areas under investigation. For example, in the aftermath of numerous terrorist attacks globally, INTERPOL actively assisted national law enforcement agencies by providing on-site information about individuals and groups suspected of involvement.

The fourth INTERPOL core service is Training and Development. This service plays an important role in INTERPOL's general mission to encourage international police collaboration. Its objective is to assist officials in INTERPOL's 190 member nations in enhancing their operational efficiency and skills, as well as increasing their capacity to address the increasingly complex and globalized nature of crime. Training and Development was added as a fourth major function of INTERPOL in 2007 in response to a significant increase in demand for improved training among member nations (Fooner, 2013; Carter & Carter, 2009). INTERPOL's Guide for Effective Training outlines how training requirements are recognized and evaluated, the steps required for planning, designing, and implementing effective training programs, and how assessments and evaluations should be carried out.

Intelligence Efforts Toward Drug Trafficking

The Criminal Organizations and Drug Subdirectorate of INTERPOL is responsible for core functions such as information gathering, analysis, and the distribution of new operational and tactical intelligence to multinational law enforcement agencies. As approximately 80% of criminal acts are drug-related, INTERPOL has adopted a more structured framework for addressing the drug issue, which has been partly responsible for the dismantling of major drug cartels worldwide (Adderley & Musgrove, 2001).

INTERPOL's Specialized Crime Directorate houses the Drug Subdirectorate. A key function of this subdirectorate is the provision of technical and specialist advice on narcotics to INTERPOL bodies such as the General Assembly, National Central Bureaus, and the Executive Committee (Interpol, 2017; Fooner, 2013). The subdirectorate aims to improve collaboration among member nations and foster information exchange among all national and multinational law enforcement agencies engaged in addressing the illicit manufacture, transportation, and use of narcotic and psychotropic substances. Its activities include:

• Providing responses to multinational drug inquiry requests
• Collecting information relevant to international drug crime
• Organizing meetings between two or more states where the Criminal Organizations and Drug Subdirectorate has identified similar trends in cases under investigation, in order to exchange intelligence and jointly develop new strategies
• Identifying multinational drug trafficking cartels
• Organizing regional or global meetings on specific drug subjects, annually or as needed, with objectives of assessing the severity of a specific drug issue, exchanging information on the latest investigative techniques, and improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies
• Gathering and analyzing information from member nations for the development of tactical and strategic intelligence reports, and distributing these completed reports to the relevant member states
• Organizing multinational drug inquiries where two or more member nations are involved

The distinctive characteristic of this Subdirectorate is its capacity to establish connections between drug investigations conducted by national governments that would otherwise appear unrelated. In the General Assembly agenda, drugs constitute a significant issue alongside money laundering and terrorism (Interpol, 2017). A drug trafficking case is considered international if: the drugs were produced in a different country; it has been proven that the drugs were transported across a national border; the drugs were intended for delivery to another country; they were transported via another country; at least one of the culprits is a citizen of a different country; the quantity of drugs involved suggests the possibility of illegal export; or the nature of the drug indicates that it originated from another nation — particularly when it cannot be cultivated within the country concerned, unless the amount is so small as to suggest personal use.

Conclusion

With its enduring dedication to addressing social crimes across the world, INTERPOL is providing a substantive response to the United Nations' obligation of "Counter-Terrorism Capacity and Delivery," as well as to other transnational social problems. Through its resources and services, INTERPOL is sharing its anti-crime best practices with all of its member nations, multinational law enforcement groups, and UN partners. Through improved communication and effective intelligence sharing — the most critical elements in combating terrorism — INTERPOL is committed to continually strengthening its existing law enforcement networks and building new ones. The goal is that, in the near future, nations across the globe will not only have greater awareness of the threats posed by cybercrime, war crimes, and terrorism, but will also possess the technical infrastructure, expertise, and operational capacity needed to address them effectively.

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