Vice President of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), Retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Garba Umar, says, it is critical that police officials around the world are equipped to the highest level to protect their communities against future threats as transnational border crimes are fast evolving.
Umar made the assertion during the conclusion of a tour of the six Regional Bureaus in Africa and the Americas by Members of INTERPOL’s Executive Committee, led by INTERPOL President Ahmed Naser Al Raisi.
The Vice President for Africa, Garba Baba Umar, and the two EC delegates for Africa, Anne-Marie Nainda and Alaa Ragab, accompanied the President on his visits to the INTERPOL RBs in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe in 10-18 February, 2023.
The tour continued from March 14th to 20th, 2023 , when the vice president for the Americas Valdecy Urquiza toured the Regiobal Bureaus in Argentina and El Salvador with the President to see first-hand their daily law enforcement support activities.
On the final leg of the tour, Argentina’s Police Chief and EC delegate for the Americas Juan Carlos Hernandez welcomed the delegation to Buenos Aires, where the RB also hosts one of the Organization’s three Command and Coordination Centres.
President of the INTERPOL, Al Rai, said the tour is one of the first times the Executive Committee has travelled to all six Regional Bureaus to assess how well they support member countries and how, as INTERPOL’s governing body in charge of supervising the work of the General Secretariat, can drive real strategic and sustainable change.
While engaging with key stakeholders
throughout the tour, the President and Executive Committee members met with state leaders, security ministers, general prosecutors, police chiefs and heads of INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) for high-level exchanges on some of the region’s most pressing policing issues.
At each Regional Bureau, the President and Executive Committee members also held virtual meetings with National Central Bureaus in the associated region and almost 80 countries in total, to hear their challenges and identify ways in which additional assistance can be provided.
Extending access to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 network at key border points was a major point of discussion at each RB, with countries eager to benefit from mobile technology allowing frontline officers to run instant checks on INTERPOL’s criminal databases.
This tour has given the Executive Committee real insight into the importance of the Regional Bureaus and will be an area for discussion at the next Executive Committee meeting as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure police in Africa and the Americas have the skillsets and tools required to support global security,” said Vice President for the Americas Urquiza.
A supervisory body
Diversity was also high on the agenda, with the Executive Committee members expressing strong support for the 2022 INTERPOL General Assembly resolution to further prioritize the geographical and gender diversity of the organization’s workforce, particularly as it relates to underrepresented countries.
The Executive Committee is the governing body in charge of supervising the execution of the General Assembly’s decisions and the administration and work of the General Secretariat.
The Committee’s members sit at the top level of policing in their own countries and bring many years of experience and knowledge to advise and guide the organization.
The six RBs are part of the General Secretariat structure, each providing policing support services to member countries in their specific regions.
