Director Williams Speaks at Aspen Institute Security Forum

On Thursday, July 27, 2012, Director Williams participated with a panel on law enforcement and homeland security. The panel discussed cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies with private industry on domestic and international counterterrorism investigations. The Aspen Institute brings together high-level government, private industry, academia, journalists, and concerned citizens to talk about national security, homeland security, counterterrorism, and foreign policy issues. For more information, please visit the Aspen Institute Security Forum website.

INTERPOL Washington Assists in Arrest of Ulrich Engler

INTERPOL Washington assisted in the arrest of fugitive Ulrich Felix Anton Engler on Wednesday, July 25, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Engler was wanted by the German authorities for a pyramid scheme, operated from his financial firm in Florida, which defrauded investors in Germany of at least $100 million dollars from 2003 to 2004. A warrant and an INTERPOL Red Notice were issued for his arrest in 2007 by the German courts in Mannheim and Hamburg. At the time, Engler was believed to have been residing in Florida; however his exact whereabouts were unknown. In 2011, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) in conjunction with INTERPOL Washington began to reexamine the case and determined that Engler was perpetuating his fraudulent schemes in Nevada under a new identity. Personnel from the USMS in Washington, D.C., the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Florida, and INTERPOL Washington officials traveled to Nevada to apprehend Engler. Officials from the USMS from the District of Nevada, ICE, the Nevada Department of Public Safety, and the Las Vegas Police Department coordinated the investigation and arrest of Engler.

INTERPOL Washington Hosts National Capital Region Law Enforcement Luncheon

On July 19, 2012, INTERPOL Washington hosted the monthly National Capital Region Law Enforcement Luncheon. Director Williams gave a presentation on INTERPOL Washington and its services to U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, led a tour of the INTERPOL Operations and Command Center that is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year to support law enforcement, and provided an informal lunch to foster discussion and collaboration between law enforcement branches and officials. Agencies represented include the law enforcement branches of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Marshals Service.

INTERPOL Global Register Unveiled at Google INFO Summit

Director Timothy Williams represented INTERPOL Washington at the Google Ideas INFO Summit alongside innovators in government, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations. At the Summit, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald Noble from the United States unveiled the INTERPOL Global Register, an innovative tool that will enable law enforcement officials and the public to verify the legitimacy of products via a smartphone or internet-connected mobile device:

Secretary General Noble stated that, "INTERPOL's core mandate has always been to make sure that law enforcement anywhere in the world will have access to the right information at the right time to fight crime. We are now taking this a step further by giving the public the ability to protect themselves by using the INTERPOL Global Register to check unique security features used to verify the authenticity of products."

INTERPOL Washington looks forward to future collaboration with INTERPOL, as the U.S. law enforcement community and American public gain access to crime-fighting tools including the Global Register. For more information on the INTERPOL Global Register preview at the Google INFO Summit, please view INTERPOL's press release.

INTERPOL Washington Hosts Inaugural Congressional Open Forum on Capitol Hill

Sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin (IL), INTERPOL Washington hosted their first Open Forum for Congressional staffers on July 13, 2012. Approximately 30 Congressional staffers attended the forum led by INTERPOL Washington's Director, Deputy Director, and General Counsel. Specific topics included INTERPOL Washington's role in the United States and internationally, INTERPOL Red Notices and Executive Order 12425. Following the discussion, INTERPOL Washington officials opened the forum to Q&A and addressed specific questions that Congressional staffers had regarding the agency. Please view photo gallery.

INTERPOL Washington Assists in Recovery and Repatriation of Stolen Art to Peru

INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy Williams and INTERPOL Washington officials from the Stolen Art and Cultural Antiquities Program attended a repatriation ceremony where 9 paintings, a silver monstrance, ceramics, textiles, and bronze objects were returned to the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C. Four of the seven paintings were listed in the INTERPOL Stolen Works of Art Database, and INTERPOL Washington provided investigative assistance to the U.S. Immigration, Customs Enforcement (ICE) Cultural Property, Art, and Antiquities Program for the silver monstrance and seven of the nine paintings. U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole and ICE Director John Morton returned the stolen art to the Ambassador of Peru, Harold Forsyth. For additional information on ICE's role in the investigation, please view ICE's press release regarding the repatriation ceremony. Please view photo gallery.

Director Timothy Williams Attends INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) Working Group in Lyon, France

In preparation for the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) opening in 2014, INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy Williams attended an IGCI Working Group on June 25-28, 2012 in Lyon, France. The new IGCI complex will focus on the rapidly-increasing medium for crimes: what is online. IGCI will serve as a center to research and investigate international cybercrime and forensics, as well as develop innovative technologies to fight these increasingly-transnational crimes that use online mediums across the world. The IGCI complex will be located in Singapore, the home country of current INTERPOL President Khoo Boon Hui.

Director Williams Serves as Delegate to the Americas Region at the INTERPOL Executive Committee

On June 19-21, 2012, INTERPOL hosted its 174th Executive Committee Session. The Executive Committee meets three times a year and has thirteen members-the President of the Organization, Three Vice-Presidents, and Nine Delegates-who provide guidance to the Secretary General on all matters related to the Organization, including supervising the execution of the decisions of the General Assembly, preparing the agenda for sessions of the General Assembly, supervising the administration and work of the Secretary General, giving the Secretary General instruction in regards to INTERPOL's budget, and proposing a candidate for the post of Secretary General for approval to be elected by the General Assembly. Members of the Executive Committee must come from different countries and the President and the three Vice-Presidents must come from different continents. Director Williams currently serves a one-year term as the Delegate to the Americas Region.

Deputy Director Shawn Bray Presents "An Overview of INTERPOL Washington" at International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators Annual Conference

INTERPOL Washington Deputy Director Shawn Bray presented "An Overview of INTERPOL Washington" at the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) Annual Conference and Exposition on June 15- June 19, 2012 in Reno, Nevada. Deputy Director Bray presented alongside agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the New York State Intelligence Center, as well as law enforcement officers from other universities' campus police. The IACLEA Conference is the premier meeting for the campus public safety community.

INTERPOL Washington Representatives Attend "Operation Promise" Training in San Salvador

Representatives from INTERPOL Washington attended the "Operation Promise" training in San Salvador on June 11-15, 2012. "Operation Promise" is a pilot program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to combat human trafficking in Central America. The program is based on an anti-trafficking training model developed by INTERPOL that has been applied successfully in several countries in Africa. Operation Promise will be conducted in three phases: assessment, training, and operation. The goal of this training phase is to ensure the establishment of a robust, replicable platform for increasing law enforcement's ability to detect, deter, and dismantle transnational criminal operations that support human trafficking within the Central America region.

Director Timothy Williams Attends INTERPOL Working Group on Project Vennlig and Project Hamah in Rome, Italy

INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy Williams attended an INTERPOL Working Group on Projects Vennlig and Hamah on June 12-13, 2012 in Rome, Italy. Projects Vennlig and Hamah are joint projects of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and INTERPOL and proactively share terrorist leads from Iraq and Afghanistan with INTERPOL member countries and the U.S. law enforcement community. INTERPOL Washington supports this critical information-sharing in its Counterterrorism Division by disseminating the investigative data and responding to INTERPOL member countries and the U.S. law enforcement community. The developed information and subsequent feedback are used to create criminal investigative leads for use by INTERPOL member countries and U.S. law enforcement agencies, and the information has assisted law enforcement efforts to identify and prosecute terrorists worldwide. To date, Projects Vennlig and Hamah have provided more than 48,000 names of suspected terrorists and 53,000 leads in the form of telephone numbers, passports, and businesses that were entered into databases at INTERPOL Washington and at the INTERPOL Secretariat General in Lyon, France.

Director Timothy Williams Speaks at International Police Conference in Colombia

At a conference aimed to improve and increase coordination between INTERPOL, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the Latin America and Caribbean Community of Police Intelligence (AMERIPOL), Director Williams conducted high-profile meetings with representatives from the Colombian National Police, AMERIPOL, and INTERPOL to facilitate enhanced cooperation between the three policing organizations.