INTERPOL Washington Shares Best Practices in International Fugitive Investigations

Investigative specialists from INTERPOL Washington―the U.S. National Central Bureau―and some 100 officials from 70 INTERPOL member countries met December 5th to 8th in Montego Bay, Jamaica, to review high priority fugitive and cold cases and to share best practices among the experts. The event, known as the 7th Global Operational Symposium, was hosted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force and INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support unit.  The symposium featured several speakers during the first two days, while the last two days were focused on a detailed review of cases.

During the case reviews, three INTERPOL Washington representatives participated in more than 40 case study reviews.  During this time, they explained how the United States processes Red Notices, and answered questions from other countries’ representatives.  Participants learned that the United States does not make arrests solely on the basis of a Red Notice. In order to arrest a person in the United States, the U.S. Constitution requires an American court to issue a warrant based upon probable cause. Therefore, the United States treats foreign-issued Red Notices as “look out” requests for the subject of the notice. INTERPOL Washington enters the information about the Red Notice subjects into appropriate U.S. law enforcement databases.

In many other countries, INTERPOL personnel and national police are authorized to arrest pursuant to a Red Notice.  The INTERPOL Washington staff found it very helpful to learn about how other governments’ execute the INTERPOL mission. They were also better able to understand some of the challenges facing other INTERPOL member countries, such as lack of technical infrastructure, limited internet access, and cumbersome bureaucratic hurdles for approval of routine actions.