Tag Archives: INTERPOL

Interpol and innovation? Let’s not underestimate the criminals

My hat’s off to Neal Ungerleider at the Fast Company website. His Feb. 9, 2012 article (Inside INTERPOL’s New Cybercrime Innovation Center) has proven to be incredibly successful. It seems to be everywhere which makes tracking down additional information about INTERPOL’s new complex a bit of a challenge. Here’s what Ungerleider wrote about the centre,

INTERPOL, the international policing agency, is opening a massive innovation center in Singapore in 2014. At the center, law enforcement will learn all about the latest cybercrimes… and have access to cutting-edge forensics laboratories and research stations.

I particularly enjoyed this line from Ungerleider’s article,

INTERPOL, the international policing organization, is building a law enforcement tech geek heaven in Singapore.

Here’s a video of what this new complex may look like,

Ungerleider goes on to note this about the activities and the bureaucracy supporting the complex,

Beyond cybercrime, police officers and researchers at IGCI will also be developing experimental strategies to combat environmental crime, counterfeiting, corruption in football/soccer, and Asian criminal syndicates. The complex will include laboratories, conference space, and a museum-like space for tours geared toward the public. INTERPOL being INTERPOL, the whole organizational process behind the center is highly bureaucratic and intricate [PDF].

The Jan. 16, 2012 media release from INTERPOL announces the director for this new complex,

INTERPOL has announced that Noboru Nakatani of Japan, currently the Special Advisor to the Commissioner General of Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA), and Director of the NPA’s Transnational Organized Crime Office, has been appointed as the Executive Director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore.

The state-of-the-art facility, due to become operational in early 2014, will equip the world’s police with the tools and knowledge to better tackle the crime threats of the 21st century. As a research and development facility for the identification of crimes and criminals, it will provide innovative training and operational support for law enforcement across the globe.

During the building’s ongoing construction, Mr Nakatani will oversee and coordinate the creation and development of the programmes and services that will be delivered from the IGCI by INTERPOL to its 190 member countries.

At Japan’s National Police Agency, Mr Nakatani held the post of Senior Assistant Director for cybercrime, as well as Executive Officer to the Minister of State, the Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission.

“I am very pleased that the Government of Japan has allowed Mr Nakatani to return to INTERPOL in order to take up this challenging and historic post; it reaffirms Japan’s strong commitment to INTERPOL and to international police cooperation,” said INTERPOL President Khoo Boon Hui.

INTERPOL notes this about the need for this complex, from the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation page,

Crime threats are changing

Police worldwide are facing an increasing challenging operational landscape, as criminals take advantage of new technology, the ease of international travel and the anonymous world of virtual business.

Criminal phenomena are becoming more aggressive and elusive, notably in the areas of cybercrime and child sexual exploitation.

The future of policing

It is crucial for police to stay one step ahead of criminals. In today’s world this can only be achieved if law enforcement officials have real-time access to information beyond their own borders.

The digital age has opened up immense new opportunities to police forces, providing secure communications channels and instant access to criminal data. Innovation must become our best ally.

Championing innovation

The Global Complex will go beyond the traditional reactive law enforcement model. This new centre will provide proactive research into new areas and latest training techniques. [emphasis mine] The aim is to give police around the world both the tools and capabilities to confront the increasingly ingenious and sophisticated challenges posed by criminals.

The four main components of the Global Complex are as follows:

Innovation, research and digital security

  • Boosting cybersecurity and countering cybercrime;
  • A forensic laboratory to support digital crime investigations;
  • Research to test protocols, tools and services and to analyse trends of cyber-attacks;
  • Development of practical solutions in collaboration with police, research laboratories, academia and the public and private sectors;
  • Addressing issues such as Internet security governance.

For some reason that business about extending past the traditional reactive approach  to become proactive reminded me of the movie, Minority Report (internet movie database),

In the future, criminals are caught before the crimes they commit, … [sic]

I can’t imagine getting more proactive than that.