INTERPOL Washington Reinforces Ties with Story County

On September 20, 2016, INTERPOL Washington’s Deputy Director Wayne Salzgaber briefed the Story County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors on current programs with the County Sheriff’s Department. The meeting took place during the Board’s regularly scheduled Business Meeting, chaired by Rick Sanders.  Board Members Wayne Clinton and Martin Chitty also attended.

Deputy Director Wayne Salzgaber summarized how the Story County Sheriff’s Office and the State of Iowa support INTERPOL Washington, also known as the U.S. National Central Bureau. Salzgaber said that under Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, the relationship between INTERPOL Washington and Story County is flourishing.  This is exemplified by the county’s participation in, and support of, numerous INTERPOL Washington initiatives.

For example, Story County consistently sends officials to INTERPOL Washington as “secondees” or “detailees.” Under this program, representatives from federal and local law enforcement organizations work at INTERPOL Washington on a temporary basis, during which time they apply investigative techniques from their home agencies to INTERPOL Washington cases. In return, they learn to leverage INTERPOL’s tools at their home agencies when they return.

Earlier this year, Elizabeth Quinn, Story County Deputy Sheriff, spent 6 months in Washington working In the Human Trafficking and Child Protection Division.  Currently Micah Andersen, Story County Assistant Jail Administrator, is assigned to the Fugitive and Alien Division at INTERPOL Washington. With partnership a core value of INTERPOL, important assignments like these help INTERPOL Washington grow its global police network by maintaining partnerships with federal and local law enforcement agencies as well as international organizations. Salzgaber thanked the Sheriff and the Board for allowing this relationship to grow.

From his prior position as President of the National Sheriff’s Association and other key leadership positions in NSA and Iowa, Sheriff Fitzgerald also strongly advocates state-wide and nationally for INTERPOL’s State and Local Liaison program. This program establishes an INTERPOL liaison in every state, as well as in some large metropolitan areas. The liaisons are officers in the field who can follow up on leads, locate and identify individuals, and make notifications.  According to Salzgaber, “This, the relationship we have with state and locals, is what we value the most . . . because we need to make sure on the federal side that we’re connecting up to our local communities.”

Iowa is also an early adopter, and one of only 12 states participating in, one of INTERPOL Washington’s key tools known as Federation.  Federation allows all U.S. law enforcement agencies to query both domestic and INTERPOL indices in a single search. This enables officers to find out in real time whether the subject of an investigation poses a known transnational and or terrorist criminal threat.  These combined searches can be conducted from both fixed and mobile platforms, including vehicle-mounted and hand-held devices. Salzgaber said that INTERPOL Washington wants to “make sure that every law enforcement officer is connected.”

He ended the discussion with his desire to expand and further strengthen the connection that INTERPOL Washington has with state and local law enforcement agencies.

INTERPOL Washington facilitates the exchange of police information and promotes cooperation and assistance among law enforcement authorities around the world. U.S. law enforcement agencies can gain more information about federation by contacting INTERPOL Washington’s Office of the Chief Information Officer at 202-616-9000 or on-line at Nlets at  http://www.nlets.org .