INTERPOL offers global solutions to Europe's security needs

See also   Keynote Speech by Secretary General Ronald K. Noble (29/01/2008)

The 11th European Police Congress is looking at security challenges for Europe in the 21st century. Europe’s security architecture needs to function within a global context, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble told delegates. Keynote speakers included European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security.

© Klaus Dombrowsky/Behoerdenspiegel

BERLIN - INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble today urged European officials to utilise INTERPOL’s global security framework to help ensure the region’s safety.

Addressing the 11th European Police Congress in Berlin, Germany, Secretary General Noble also called for the Schengen Information System to be supplemented with INTERPOL’s database of stolen and lost travel documents, which currently contains more than 14 million records submitted by 133 member countries.

The forum of interior ministers, police chiefs and representatives from European bodies and the private sector is looking at security challenges for Europe in the 21st century. Last December, nine new countries joined the Schengen area, which permits free travel throughout the zone once an individual has legally entered a participating country.

'Today’s security context requires all states to adopt a global perspective on crime and terrorism, and developing global tools such as the combination of INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database and the MIND/FIND system is one of INTERPOL’s 21st century answers to this challenge,' said Mr Noble.

INTERPOL has developed the technology to deliver access to this database to officers working in field units such as border control and customs. This system is operational in five European countries.

Of these, France and Switzerland systematically check the documents of all incoming travellers. In the last four months of 2007, border officers in the two countries recorded close to 500 positive matches using the database, many for passports issued by countries outside the Schengen zone.

'INTERPOL’s view has always been that border security is a worldwide endeavour which provides local benefits,' added Secretary General Noble.

'To achieve this, Europe’s security architecture needs to function within a global security framework, one which will make every European country’s security efforts start way beyond their own borders and this is what INTERPOL can provide,' concluded Mr Noble.