INTERPOL seeks to enhance the role of NCBs and regional offices and increase the General Secretariat’s responsiveness to their needs. This includes the development of emergency support and operational activities centred on the organization’s priority crime areas: fugitives, public safety and terrorism, drugs and organized crime, trafficking in human beings and financial and high-tech crime.

The Command and Co-ordination Centre (CCC) operates round the clock in all of INTERPOL’s four official languages (English, French, Spanish and Arabic) and serves as the first point of contact for any member country faced with a crisis situation. The CCC staff monitors news channels and INTERPOL messages exchanged between member countries to ensure the full resources of the organization are ready and available whenever and wherever they may be needed.

If a terrorist attack or natural disaster does occur, the CCC and the Crisis Support Group mobilise to offer and co-ordinate the organization’s response. A ll messages and requests for information and assistance from the affected member countries are treated with the highest priority.

In addition, Incident Response Teams or Disaster Victim Identification teams composed of officers from the General Secretariat and member countries can be dispatched to the scene within hours of an event. The CCC can also assume a co-ordination role if an attack or disaster involves several member countries or if a member country’s own ability to do so has been compromised.

Another component of this core function is the INTERPOL notice system, which serves to alert police of fugitives, suspected terrorists, dangerous criminals, missing persons or weapons threats. There are currently six colour-coded notices– Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black and Orange – and the INTERPOL-United Nations Special Notice issued for groups or individuals who are the targets of UN sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Criminal Analysis Unit contributes to investigations by assisting officers working at the General Secretariat and in member countries with research and analysis on crime trends. The unit also provides training courses in criminal analysis techniques for member countries.

INTERPOL initiates and coordinates many police training programmes covering different priority crime areas, and aimed at enhancing the capacity of Member States to combat international crime. The courses are open to Law Enforcement Agencies.