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9 July 2008



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  NCB Services & I-24/7 Development Directorate
  Exchange of good practice between NCBs
  Contact officers networks
  NCB staff training
  INTERPOL awareness seminars

 

NCB Services & I-24/7 Development Directorate

Mission statement

With a view to supporting INTERPOL’s core functions and activities, the Directorate will focus its activities on three main areas:

  • I-24/7 development, with the aim of maintaining and improving an operational, secure communications system between the General Secretariat and the NCBs, and to ensure and develop direct, immediate access to police information in INTERPOL's databases by national police services
  • Capacity building, with the aim of developing and enhancing close co-operation with the N CBs in order to enhance their operational capacities and responsiveness
  • Police training, with the aim of strengthening NCB staff's abilities in INTERPOL's core functions and their knowledge of INTERPOL's tools and services, and to increase awareness of INTERPOL within national law enforcement departments

Detailed description of activities

I-24/7 development

    • Ensure INTERPOL maintains and enhances its leadership in global police communications and meets the international police co-operation expectations of its member countries by working in close collaboration with the National Central Bureaus

    • Supervise the co-ordination of all organizational activities related to the maintenance and support of the I-24/7 global police communications system, including remote access to INTERPOL's databases through integrated solutions (FIND/MIND), mobile access and others

    • Help promote use of the databases and data services - based on the requirements of the member countries - by conducting appropriate activities, and to develop new data services according member countries' needs

    • Continuously assess the levels of data management in the N CBs and recommend initiatives and steps needed to increase the level; assess the resources available and needed, as well as the training required, to optimize use of the databases and data services

    • Implement externally-funded technical projects linked to the development of INTERPOL’s global police communications system

    • Ensure I-24/7 security standards at the General Secretariat and at user level

    • Organize the INTERPOL Law Enforcement Technology Advisory Group

CAPACITY BUILDING

    • Assist member countries with the creation and reconstruction of NCBs, revitalizing their operational capacities

    • Maintain and develop N CB service standards and to promote good practice in all areas of police activities.

    • Develop contact officers networks in order to enhance operational support between NCBs

    • Produce the regional business plans in close co-operation with the relevant departments of the General Secretariat and the member countries

    • Organize the annual Heads of NCBs meetings and the Regional Conferences
    • Respond as quickly as possible to inquiries from N CBs addressed to the General Secretariat, and intervene on behalf of NCBs having difficulty obtaining responses from other NCBs

    • Develop co-operation with regional and international organizations

    • Support the activities of the Command and Co-ordination Centre when requested, on a case-by-case basis, by liaising with the member countries.

    • Serve as a link between N CBs and people responsible for crime support programmes and projects at the General Secretariat

POLICE TRAINING

    • Carry out tailored I-24/7 user training courses worldwide according national needs

    • Organize NCB staff training courses for national officers working at INTERPOL National Central Bureaus on a regional and language basis

    • Organize INTERPOL awareness seminars at the request of member countries

    • Inform crime programme managers of training requirements in their area

 

Exchange of good practice between NCBs

Activity

After the 17 service standards had been adopted at the 63rd General Assembly session held in Rome in 1994, member countries suggested a mechanism for implementing the service. The European region adopted a peer evaluation mechanism in 1999 in order to implement the service standards. The evaluation yielded a number of positive results ranging from enhanced status of the NCBs to the allocation of additional resources. Discussion with member countries during many INTERPOL meetings on the European mechanism has generated strong support. It is against this background that it was decided to extend the exchange of good practice between NCBs to other regions based on different processes to be adopted for each region. The exchange of good practice programme began with a pilot scheme in 2004 in which volunteer N CBs were requested to participate in the exchange of best practice, and the scheme is being fully implemented in all INTERPOL regions. All INTERPOL’s NCBs will have been visited before the end of 2009.

Objectives

The Exchange of Good Practice Programme is aimed at enhancing the status and role of NCBs and increasing countries’ contribution to and use of the General Secretariat's databases.

  • Ensure NCBs observe the minimum service standards required for their effective operation
  • Enhance the status of NCBs
  • Obtain additional resources for NCBs

Outcome

Based on the recommendations produced by the good practice teams and the good practice identified in the countries visited, we intend to increase the resources of our NCBs, to enhance their position within their national police structures and to meet the INTERPOL Services Standards required in order to provide a minimum of services to the international police community. When necessary, INTERPOL also provides equipment to those NCBs which lack resources.

 

Contact officers networks

Activity

The work performed by the network of contact officers throughout the world has resulted in many urgent cases being solved by our member countries.

In 2006, contact officers network meetings were organized in Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa, with participants from a total of 57 countries.

Objectives

The contact officers’ network has been created to facilitate immediate assistance between NCBs in urgent cases.

Outcome

Details, names and telephone numbers of contact officers for Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas are now posted on the INTERPOL dashboard for the use of all NCBs.

 

NCB staff training

Activity

The NCB staff training courses organized by the NCB & I-24/7 Directorate were carried out aimed at improving the ability of the officers to perform their duties satisfactorily with regard to the requirements of international police co-operation and the range of services developed at INTERPOL.

Objectives

The main objective is to identify needs and assist in the implementation of NCB training programmes, co-ordinate member countries' training needs and ensure new and existing NCB staff are well informed and fully aware of:

  • INTERPOL’s services
  • the role and function of NCBs
  • INTERPOL policy in relation to international police co-operation

Outcome

The positive result of the training courses is the improvement in the quality and volume of messages most of our N CBs are now exchanging. This is clear from the increase in the amount of data entered in the INTERPOL database and increased use of the database.

 

INTERPOL awareness seminars

Activity

A seminar consists of a one or two-day general programme with presentations on INTERPOL's goals, structure and role, I-24/7 secure global police communications services (Dashboard, expansion, etc.), operational databases, crime programmes and projects, operational support provided by INTERPOL to major international events and incidents, structure and role of the NCB and key activities at national level.

An INTERPOL Awareness Seminar is generally organized in a country at the request of the NCB concerned. The NCB defines the contents of the seminar in close co-operation with the General Secretariat, and is responsible for inviting representatives from national law enforcement agencies, customs and immigration at different levels (managers, operational units, specialized units, etc.).

This activity can equally be applied to international police academies worldwide as part of their regular training curricula.

Objectives

The aim of this activity is to increase national knowledge of INTERPOL's core functions and activities to:

  • enhance the position of the NCB at national level and, consequently, obtain more support and resources for it;
  • convince the national police community of the advantage of expanding the I-24/7 network and its contents beyond the NCB as an indispensable tool, not only for the NCB, but also for control, investigative and analytical units within national police forces;
  • promote the use of INTERPOL's databases and services by the NCB, law enforcement agencies, customs, immigration services, investigative units, etc.

Outcome

Greater awareness of INTERPOL’s services by national law enforcement departments leads to an immediate increase in the use of the NCBs by the national police community, which directly impacts the volume and efficiency of information exchange at national and international level.

 

 

Last modified on 3 Jun 2008 
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