Interpol isn't an independent police force but a coordination network of 196 countries that issues Red Notices to flag wanted people and restrict travel. A recent operation across 61 countries arrested nearly 4,000 people in an internet-scam ring and seized $2.5 million. Understanding how Interpol works matters if you travel or do business abroad.
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Sometimes people can get involved in kind of political issues, sometimes with people with political influence. For example, a red notice is something that is issued by an organization called Interpol, and it's important to know what Interpol is. It is not its own independent law enforcement agency. Nearly 7,000 bank accounts were frozen. Nearly $2.5 million of assets were seized. For people who travel often or who conduct business overseas, who live there, who travel internationally, it's really important to understand kind of what the law enforcement landscape looks like. Sometimes people can get involved in kind of political issues, they can get a little sideways with people, sometimes with people with political influence, for example, and they may end up being subject to what's called like a red notice. A red notice is something that is issued by an organization called Interpol, and it can really impact your ability to travel freely or to be free from detention. So I want to talk a little bit about what Interpol is, and I've got some other content that I'm going to be putting out in the near future just to give people sort of a bit better idea, like how you can challenge a red notice, and, you know, just really generally kind of how the international, transnational criminal system looks like and how it may impact those who are traveling or conducting business abroad. A big player in this area is Interpol, and it's important to know what Interpol is and what it is not. When you see depictions of Interpol on television or on movies, I mean, those are just sort of universally inaccurate. Now, Interpol is short for International Criminal Police Organization. They are headquartered in Lyon, France, and it's an organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and also crime suppression. It is a pro-prosecution law enforcement agency. It is not prosecution agnostic. Its goal is to assist in having people arrested for you know, things that they determine to be crimes, for people who they believe to be criminals. Now, they also do a lot of really great work. For example, they just recently coordinated a global police operation that involved 61 countries. They shut down a large-scale internet scamming operation. Nearly 4,000 people were arrested. Nearly 7,000 bank accounts were frozen. Nearly $2.5 million of assets were seized. So that's kind of the— an example of the sort of large-scale transnational operation that Interpol gets involved in. Now, there are 7 regional bureaus worldwide and a national central bureau located in each of its member states. There are 196 member states. So the regional bureaus are located in, like, Buenos Aires, in Brussels, there's one in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, San Salvador, there's one in Ethiopia, one in Nairobi, and also one in Bangkok, Thailand. The National Central Bureau, or sometimes it's just known by the acronym NCB, in the United States is located in Washington, D.C. Now, in addition to these investigations and coordinated police operations, Interpol also oversees a notice system where it shares alerts and requests for information from member states. I'll speak about this in greater detail in another video, but it's this notice system that can impact a person's ability to travel freely, without fear of arrest or detention. So that's just kind of a basic overview of what Interpol is. It is not its own independent law enforcement agency. Instead, it coordinates and oversees large-scale criminal law enforcement activity. It is pro-prosecution, and it assists in having people detained, those people who it has sort of determined through its own system that believes have been— who are guilty of a crime and, and are deserving of detention. So if you have any questions about this, any concerns about Interpol, or have any issues related to whether or not you have a red notice issued against you, please feel free to give us a call. We can be reached at 803-445-1333, or please feel free to reach out to our website at www. ElizabethFranklinBest.com and leave us a message that way.
