50 Fun Facts About Interpol

In which French city is Interpol headquartered?

The General Secretariat moved there in 1989 from the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud.

How many member countries does Interpol have?

That includes three dependent territories of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

In which city was the forerunner of Interpol founded in 1923?

It was set up as the International Criminal Police Commission at the close of a five-day congress led by Vienna's police president Johannes Schober.

What was Interpol's original name from 1923?

The 22 delegates came from countries including Austria, Germany, China, Egypt and Japan.

Where does the name 'Interpol' come from?

The name was adopted officially with a new constitution in 1956.

Contrary to films and TV, what does Interpol NOT have?

It is a liaison network for national police forces, providing databases and communications rather than officers.

Which of these is one of Interpol's four official languages?

The others are English, French and Spanish.

Interpol's constitution strictly forbids intervention in matters of what character?

That is Article 3, and until the 1980s it was used as a reason not to pursue Nazi war criminals.

What is the purpose of an Interpol Red Notice?

It is described as the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant, though it is not one.

Which colour of Interpol notice is used to locate a missing person?

It also covers identifying a person who cannot identify themselves; about 12,000 were in circulation in 2019.

An Interpol Black Notice seeks information about what?

The system of six colours dates from 1946; Orange was added in 2004.

What does an Orange Notice warn of?

It was the seventh colour, introduced in 2004.

A Purple Notice provides information on what?

Purple was one of the original six colours created in 1946.

A Blue Notice is used to do what?

Green Notices, by contrast, warn about people considered a possible threat to public safety.

Which notice colour did Interpol begin piloting in 2025 to trace criminal assets?

The Silver Notice, first piloted in 2025, is designed to identify and trace assets used in criminal activity.

Interpol's special notice, created in 2005 at the UN Security Council's request, was originally aimed at whom?

It supports asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes under Resolution 1617.

What is a 'diffusion' in Interpol terminology?

Like a notice it can request an arrest or location, and it is recorded in Interpol's databases.

What is the name of Interpol's encrypted global communications network?

National Central Bureaus are the main access points, though some countries extend it to airports and borders.

Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database contains more than how many records?

Airlines and border officials can check passports against it in real time.

Under Nazi control after 1938, Interpol's headquarters were eventually moved to which city?

It shared a building with the Gestapo, and most member states withdrew their support.

Which Wannsee Conference chair served as president of Interpol's forerunner?

Its wartime presidents were all SS generals; Ernst Kaltenbrunner was later hanged after the Nuremberg trials.

Which wartime Interpol president was the highest-ranking SS officer executed after the Nuremberg trials?

Nebe was executed by the Nazis themselves after the July 1944 plot; Heydrich was assassinated in Prague in 1942.

After its 1946 revival, Interpol was based in Paris and then, from 1967, in which suburb?

It stayed there until the 1989 move to Lyon.

Which of these is NOT a member of Interpol?

Tuvalu is the only other UN member outside; Taiwan lost its seat to the PRC in 1984, and Kosovo is represented via the UN.

In September 2017 Interpol voted to admit which two new members?

The Palestinian admission was opposed by Israel and the United States.

Which country did not join Interpol until 1938, despite unofficially attending in 1923?

Britain joined in 1928; membership had doubled to 58 nations by 1934.

Which four elements make up the Interpol emblem adopted in 1950?

The globe stands for worldwide activity, the olive branches for peace, the sword for police action and the scales for justice.

In which Asian city did Interpol open its Global Complex for Innovation in 2015?

It houses a Cyber Fusion Centre that coordinated a takedown of the SIMDA botnet even before the official opening.

Roughly what was Interpol's annual operating income in 2019?

About 41% came from statutory member contributions; the UAE's $54 million donation in 2017 raised conflict-of-interest concerns.

Who was Interpol's first American secretary-general, serving from 2000 to 2014?

A former NYU law professor, he was also the youngest secretary-general at the time of his appointment.

Which German police officer served as Interpol secretary-general from 2014 to 2024?

He was succeeded by Brazil's Valdecy Urquiza, the first secretary-general from outside Europe and the US.

The Interpol secretary-general elected in 2024 comes from which country?

Valdecy Urquiza, previously the organisation's vice-president for the Americas, succeeded Jürgen Stock in 2024.

What happened to Interpol president Meng Hongwei in September 2018?

His wife received a knife emoji as a warning; he was later jailed for 13 and a half years.

Which post did Meng Hongwei hold in China alongside the Interpol presidency?

He was the first Chinese president of Interpol, elected in 2016.

Kim Jong Yang's 2018 Interpol presidency win was controversial because rival Alexander Prokopchuk came from where?

US senators likened electing Prokopchuk to 'putting a fox in charge of the henhouse' over alleged Red Notice abuse.

Which country's inspector general Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi became Interpol president in 2021 amid rights complaints?

Rights groups accused him of overseeing the arrest of British academic Matthew Hedges.

Who was the first woman to be elected president of Interpol, in 2012?

She was deputy central director of the French judicial police.

Which South African police chief resigned as Interpol president in 2008 and was later jailed for bribery?

He was found guilty in 2010 of accepting €156,000.

Which financier's memoir Red Notice describes the Kremlin's failed attempts to have Interpol pursue him?

Interpol refused, calling the requests 'predominantly political'; Moscow convicted him of tax evasion in absentia.

In 2020 Iran asked Interpol for a Red Notice against which sitting head of state?

The request over the killing of Qasem Soleimani was rejected as political, twice.

Where was the first International Criminal Police Congress, forerunner of Interpol, held in 1914?

Its ideas were shelved by the First World War; a 1922 New York conference also failed.

Roughly how many Red Notices were valid in 2019?

That is more than five times the number of Yellow Notices, at around 12,000.

Which Viennese police president spearheaded the 1923 congress that founded Interpol's forerunner?

Twenty-two delegates agreed to create the International Criminal Police Commission on 7 September 1923.

Which three Interpol members are dependent territories of the Netherlands rather than sovereign states?

Interpol's constitution allows dependent territories to join if they meet Article 4's criteria.

Interpol transferred its recognition of 'China' from Taiwan to the People's Republic in which year?

Taiwan had joined in September 1961; more than 60 members backed its bid to rejoin in 2023.

Roughly what share of Interpol's 2019 operating income came from statutory contributions by member countries?

Voluntary cash gave 35% and in-kind contributions of equipment and buildings the remaining 24%.

Interpol's second 24-hour Command and Coordination Centre, opened in 2011, is in which city?

The original is in Lyon and a third opened in Singapore in September 2014.

Which former SS member headed Interpol from the 1960s until 1972 despite his known Nazi past?

He had belonged to the National Socialist German Students' League, the SA and the SS before and during World War II.

Which Ukrainian paramilitary leader was placed on Interpol's wanted list in 2014 at Russia's request?

Critics said the listing breached Interpol's constitutional ban on political or military matters.

How many Yellow Notices, used to locate missing persons, were in circulation in 2019?

That compares with 62,448 valid Red Notices the same year.