Conference on stolen works of art planned for Poland in 2007

Marek Surmacz (left) meets with INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

Poland will host a conference next year on the investigation of stolen works of art as one of several initiatives aimed at enhancing cooperation with INTERPOL and the international policing community. During meetings with INTERPOL’s Secretary General December 12, Poland also agreed to send eight police officers – on a rotating basis – to INTERPOL’s command and coordination centre and to identify other 'secondment' opportunities.

This would constitute the largest staffing contribution to INTERPOL by one member country. Poland currently has one police officer working in INTERPOL’s drugs and organized crime sub-directorate.

The meetings were held as part of a visit to INTERPOL’s General Secretariat in Lyon, by Marek Surmacz, Poland’s secretary of state and vice-chairman of the Commission for Administration and Internal Affairs, the deputy chief commander of police, the deputy director of public security and the deputy head of the Criminal Intelligence Bureau.

Thousands of works of art are stolen every year, and INTERPOL is convinced that if the fight against the illicit traffic in works of art is to be effective, information must be circulated as widely as possible. To this aim, INTERPOL manages a database of stolen pieces and issues a DVD containing details of more than 30,000 works.

Designed for police and customs services, museums, auction rooms, antique dealers, collectors and art lovers in general, the DVD lists works of art and cultural property items such as paintings, sculptures and tapestries, with search possibilities based on different criteria: title of the work, name of the artist, description of the work or its dimensions and technique used.

The Polish delegation visit the Command and Co-ordination Centre.	The delegation attend presentations on some of INTERPOL's main projects.