Interpol

Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, is a group dedicated to dealing with crimes on an international level. If crimes such as theft, smuggling and piracy happen across multiple of their membership countries the organization gets involved given the jurisdiction to see that the crimes stop.

History

Interpol HQ — Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, France

Interpol was originally the International Criminal Police Commission, which reformed into the modern organization after World War II. Originally dedicated to simply helping cooperation between police forces across Europe, Interpol slowly expanded over time, the biggest change coming in 1989. After decades of primarily being a liaison organization, with Interpol members officers rather than agents able to make arrests, a major shift in world policies following the decline of the Soviet Union saw Interpol as a more accepted international law enforcement service. It took a few years but Interpol was greatly expanded, going from having simply one bureau per member nation to in some cases three or more, with both field offices that typically housed up to ten members as well as field teams with various duties.

The overall shift in Interpol's nature took roughly ten years to complete, Europol being formed to help address the original mandate of Interpol as it became more of an international police force. Regulations still require that Interpol only get involved in situations of international crime, with terrorism, smuggling, piracy and international crime sprees their focus. Besides Task Forces which can be formed to deal with specific incidents field teams also work for certain desks that are dedicates to crimes of a specific nature. The desks include the Grand Theft Division, which is dedicated to theft on an international scale; Recovery Division, dedicated to hunting down targets holding kidnapping victims or stolen property; and the Syndicate Division, dedicated to investigating organized crime on an international scale. Interpol is considered to have precedence on any case flagged by their organization, but at the same time they must remain respectful of local authorities and make an effort to liaison unless it is considered a risk to the operation. Arrests, while named for international law, usually see the criminal held in the nation of capture until it can be decided which nation has claim to the criminal.

The International Temporal Enforcement Agency, due to the secrecy of their organization, is treated in the media as being an Interpol team. As the ITEA was effectively spun-off from Interpol the designation is not entirely inaccurate, though the ITEA retains autonomy under the United Nations. Interpol, however, has the most seats on the ITEA's Oversight Committee.