INTERPOL  LAND

   

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Welcome to Interpol Land, an unofficial home page of Interpol world. My name is Ming Zhu and I am a visiting scholar in Criminal Justice at Washington State University. Founded in 1943 with the help of August Vollmer and our first Chair, V. A. Leonard, WSU, which located at Pullman, WA, a very beautiful, quiet and small city, has the distinction of being the second oldest criminal justice program in the nation.

The interesting areas of my studies focus on international police cooperation, community-policing, organized crime, especially on asian organized crime, comparative criminal justice,  issues surrounding the Internet/computer crime.

Here at the Interpol Land, I have attempted to compile useful links and information for your use and enjoyment. If you have any suggestions, ideas, links, or just want to drop me line, please email me. Ming Zhu, Washington State University.

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International Criminal Police Organization - INTERPOL

Establishment of INTERPOL

Interpol history began in April 1914, when legal experts and police officers from 14 different countries met in Monaco, at the First International Criminal Police Congress, to discuss the setting up of an international criminal records office and the harmonization of extradition procedures. After the outbreak of the First World War, there was no further progress in creating an international police co-operation institution until 1923 when the Second Congress was held in Vienna. This resulted in the creation of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) with its official headquarters in Vienna. The ICPC remained in existence until the outbreak of the Second World War. The Commission was re-established in 1946 and its headquarters were moved to Paris. In 1956, the Organization changed its name to the International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, and in 1989 it moved its headquarters to Lyons, France.

Role of INTERPOL

Interpol currently consists of 177 member countries and a headquarters staff of police officers from all over the world. Its structures have evolved over the years. Its role is to ensure and promote international police co-operation, bearing in mind the need to safeguard human rights, and to encourage the development of agencies likely to help in the prevention and detection of crime.

Co-operation is subject to the principles of respect for national sovereignty (which naturally precludes the possibility of «Interpol Operational Units» with supranational investigation powers), and non-intervention in political, military, religious or racial cases. Other no less important principles upheld by Interpol are that co-operation must not be restricted by linguistic or geographic barriers and that all member countries receive the same services and have equal rights. Any government department dealing with crime investigation, including the police, the gendarmerie, and local, state or federal law enforcement services can co-operate with its counterparts in other countries through Interpol channels.

Structure of INTERPOL

Interpol's permanent administrative and technical institution is the General Secretariat located in Lyons, France, while every member country has an Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB). The Organization's supreme governing body is the General Assembly composed of delegates appointed by the governments of member countries. It meets once a year to take all major policy decisions relating to working methods, finance, means of co-operation and the programme of activities. The implementation of General Assembly decisions is monitored by the Executive Committee which meets three times a year.

The General Secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, acts as the central co-ordinating agency. It is divided into four divisions: General Administration, Liaison and Criminal Intelligence, Legal Matters, Technical Support. The Liaison and Criminal Intelligence Division deals with general crime, terrorism, organized crime, money laundering, white-collar crime, counterfeiting and forgery, and drugs. It is responsible for centralizing information and for handling international criminal cases. It also drafts international notices and summaries of criminal cases, and organizes meetings and symposia on cases or special topics. One of its newest tasks is to conduct more in-depth research into major international crime problems using both operational and strategic intelligence analysis resources. Within each member country, all international police co-operation is channelled through the National Central Bureau. An NCB is a government-appointed police body or force which acts as Interpol's representative within its own country and as its country's representative vis-a-vis Interpol. The NCB receives and centralizes all information from abroad and dispatches it to the appropriate national departments. It receives and centralizes all information from its own national and local services and sends that information to its counterparts abroad. The NCB deals with all the problems of administration and translation. Thus, a member country does not have to worry about what particular person or department in another country should be contacted on a particular case: the NCB should be contacted in every case.

How INTERPOL operates

One main sphere of activity is based on the fact that NCBs exchanging information on crimes and criminals should send copies of their messages to the General Secretariat. These messages are filed in a computer database, which enables the specialized officers at the General Secretariat to analyse and synthesize information relating to criminal activities and backgrounds. The findings of the analysis are then passed on to the NCBs.

Interpol also has a system of international notices which are published and circulated to the NCBs, either at the request of one of them, or as the result of General Secretariat decisions. In particular, the red notices are «wanted» notices in which an NCB informs the other NCBs that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the person who is the subject of the notice, and that his extradition will be requested. If he is located, the person is taken into custody. The requesting NCB is immediately informed and asked to send the necessary official documents. Blue, green, yellow and black notices are sent out, respectively: to locate witnesses or suspects; to issue warning about active criminals; to seek information about missing persons; to ask for assistance in the identification of dead bodies. Special descriptive notices are issued for stolen property and details for new methods and techniques used by criminals are circulated.

In addition, the General Secretariat supplies general information on legal questions and technical police problems at the request of an NCB, either from its own sources or by consulting NCBs in other countries. It can also assist NCBs by providing examples of model legislation on various subjects.

All this exchanging of information is made possible by the Interpol telecommunications network. Technical facilities for the rapid, reliable and secure exchange of information already exist in the NCBs. But Interpol not only transmits information, it also keeps its own files on persons, stolen property and cases. Since 1989 Interpol has had one of the most advanced computer systems in the world for filing and processing information. NCBs transmitting information via the central telecommunications station located at the General Secretariat can decide what items of their information should be entered in the computer databases and can decide which member countries may have access to those items. It is even possible for information to be available to a single individual in the recipient country if he alone possesses the decrypting device. The system can also be used to transmit images of photographs and fingerprints, encrypted if necessary.

Conclusion

It would be no exaggeration to say that Interpol's services are available to every police officer in every member state. It is by no means easy to enter the Interpol headquarters building, but access to the General Secretariat is provided by Interpol's communications network, the largest in the world.

Neither Interpol nor other NCBs work in a vacuum, or for their own benefit. On the contrary, the main purpose of their work is to co-operate and react quickly to events. But co-operation is a two-way process which requires both goodwill and an under-standing of others' positions.

Interpol has often been criticized, mainly by officers from local police units, for reacting too slowly. There can be some truth in this criticism because, in the last resort, speed depends on the willingness of local police departments to deal with increasing numbers of international requests in an appropriate way. They are often in no hurry to reply to enquiries. Perhaps local events are more important for them? In other words, Interpol itself is not slow, but local colleagues sometimes are. They may, however, understand the need to deal with international enquiries as fast as possible when they in turn are impatiently waiting for an item of information from another country.

The organisation, the structures and the technical resources are all available; the rest depends on the good will of police officers. Interpol does not work behind tightly closed doors. On the contrary, it opens its doors to all police officer colleagues.

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Federal Agencies

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Computer, High-Technology, and White Collar Crime and Security Related Sites

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Criminal Justice Statistics

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Academic Criminal Justice Departments

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Other Criminal Justice Related Sites

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Interpol NCB China

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My Sweet Family

I was born in 1959 at Beijing where I attended primary school at Sino-Cuba Friendship Primary School till the end of 1969. Moving with my parents to Xi'an, Shaanxi Prov.  I continued my primary and higher education there for almost 7 years. Finishing my general education I went to rural area of Chang An County for re-education. It was that time that I knew a real profile of China, a broad, leanness farm land and her huge population of peasants, great challenges which my beloved motherland is facing and trying her best to take it over. Thanks to the China's Reform and Open Policy, I became luckily, in 1977, the first generation of college student admitted through the nationwide admission examination after Great Cultural Revolution. I spent my 4-year college life in the Northwest Telecommunication Engineering Institute (now Xidian University) as a B. E student in Information Engineering Department. Since graduation in 1982, I have been working in a ministry of Chinese government and engaging in the works concerned telecommunication and criminal law enforcement. Now,  I have a very sweet family, a beautiful wife, who is working at the Chinese Society for Metals (CSM), and a lovely daughter, even they just went back to China, I always miss them very much. Due to lack of scanning equipments I can not post my family photo on this page for sharing my enjoyment and happy, but I really hope in near future I can put them on.

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Leisure Time

As a veteran sportsman I enjoy much of my leisure time in sports, like track & field sports, football, volleyball, swimming and much more. I like reading and pay more attention on sport developments and events of my Motherland - China. Beijing, which is the city that I borne and grew in, hosts a my favorite football club - Guo An Football Club. Though Guo An Team played not so good in the beginning of 1997 Season, I believe they can play well in future games and as good luck as usual.  

Some of my friends want some information regarding American law schools and scholarships concerned. I hope following information would meet their needs.

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