Interpol Ottawa

SEE also:

• Protocol on Foreign Criminal Investigators in Canada
• If you are a victim of a crime while abroad - Consular Affairs (Foreign Affairs Canada)
• INTERPOL - http://www.interpol.int - International Criminal Police Organisation
• Mutual Legal Assistance: An Investigator’s Guide to Seeking Assistance Through the Department of Justice
• Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters

See also: Interpol Branch Fact Sheet (html pdf )

History

The basic foundations of the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) can be traced to a meeting held in 1914 in Monaco .

There, police officers and legal experts from 24 countries agreed to create an organization to serve as a centralized international criminal records office and to harmonize extradition procedures.

Interpol now has a membership of 184 countries and 11 territories, with a permanent headquarters (General Secretariat) in Lyons , France .

Activities

Interpol’s activities are focused on law enforcement action having international ramifications in all sectors of criminal activity.

Examples include:

• crimes against persons (murder, terrorism, serious assault, sexual
  assault, kidnapping, extortion, hostage-taking, traffic in human beings, prostitution, sexual abuse and offences against children)
• crimes against property (traffic in stolen motor vehicles, theft of identity and travel documents, traffic in and
• criminal use of firearms and explosives)
• offences involving cultural property (theft, illicit traffic in works of art, illicit traffic in endangered species)
• economic and financial crime (currency, card and document counterfeiting, forgery, fraud, computer crime, product counterfeiting, transborder movements of waste products, radioactive and nuclear materials), drug trafficking and money laundering.

Structure

• Apart from its headquarters staff in Lyons , France , Interpol operates through the National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in its member countries
• NCBs serve as the focal point for communication abroad. Canada became a member of ICPO in 1949, and the RCMP was delegated the responsibility for administering and operating the National Central Bureau (Interpol Ottawa)
• Interpol Ottawa is located at RCMP National Headquarters and forms part of the International Liaison Program
• all NCBs communicate directly among themselves but keep the General Secretariat informed so it can perform its task of centralizing information, monitoring the over-all picture, developing tactical and strategic intelligence and coordinating investigative action.

Interpol Ottawa

Interpol Ottawa works closely with the Canadian Central Authority and serves as the link between official Canadian and international law enforcement agencies.

It is staffed with public servants, with members of the RCMP, and with
seconded officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, Sureté du Québec, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal and the Halifax Regional Police.

Assistance to the Canadian Enforcement Community:

Interpol Ottawa:

• is the central coordination point for the Canadian law enforcement community in pursuing criminal investigations abroad, establishing rapid contact with foreign police agencies and liaison officers, transmitting requests for information required in investigations to NCBs in other countries and assisting on judicial proceedings. There are different ways of obtaining assistance from other countries including: Police to Police requests; requests under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties; or requests made to foreign countries under the Extradition Act .
• provides coordination and assistance to Canadian police investigators who travel abroad to further their investigations
• on your request of urgent nature, will send a diffusion to all Interpol 184 member countries
• on your request, if your case has an international dimension, our NCB has the capacity to get Interpol Notices issued which will be distributed to the 184 member countries of the Interpol Organization. Examples of Interpol Notices can be viewed on the Interpol web site at: www.interpol.int
• RED NOTICE: Seeks arrest of fugitives for whom an arrest warrant has been issued and where extradition will be requested
• BLUE NOTICE: Seeks information (identity, criminal record) for subjects who have committed criminal offences, and used to trace and locate a subject where extradition may be sought (unidentified offenders, witnesses)
• GREEN NOTICE: provides information on career criminals who have committed, or are likely to commit, offenses in several countries(habitual offenders, child molesters, pornographers)
• YELLOW NOTICE: Seeks missing or lost persons( includes parental abductions and missing children)
• BLACK NOTICE: provides details of unidentified dead bodies or deceased people who may have used false identities
• circulates details and descriptions of all types of stolen or seized property, including art and cultural objects
• provides details of unusual modus operandi, including new methods of concealment
• provides information on various organized crime groups and their activities
• provides information on criminal activity with international ramifications, but not involving a specific person or group
• provides money laundering information for use in countering international money laundering.

Assistance to the Canadian Law Community and Interpol Member Countries:

• conducts checks on criminal records, indices, subscribers, passports, immigration, vehicle identification numbers, aircraft identification, firearms identification, and locates next of kin
• assist agencies with the identification of criminals through Interpol’s databases of international criminal information containing names, aliases, occupation, place and date of birth, physical description, languages spoken, fingerprints, and photographs
• outlines the exploration of arrest possibilities under Immigration Act vs Extradition Act, concerning a foreign fugitive located in Canada
• based on a foreign warrant of arrest or Interpol Red Notice, unless a foreign fugitive as committed an offence under a Canadian Law or is in violation of the Canadian Immigration Refugee and Protection Act, Canada ’s laws do not permit the arrest of such individual found in Canada . The foreign country(ies) seeking the arrest of a fugitive must send a request for a Provisional Warrant of Arrest or straight extradition request
• Canada extradites its nationals. See listed countries which have signed treaties or agreements under the Extradition Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, with Canada .

Assistance to the Interpol Member Countries:

• provides up-to-date information on the rules and regulations applicable to member countries preceding requests : Police to Police, under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty; or under the Extradition Act
• provides up-to-date information on the rules and regulations applicable to member countries in allowing foreign police investigators to enter Canada for the purpose of assisting the Canadian authorities in a criminal investigation
• ensures police action or operations requested by another
  country’s NCB are carried out in Canada
• requests Police to Police are to be made to our NCB
• requests received from NCBs made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and Extradition Act, including requests for Provisional Warrant, are forwarded to the Canadian Department of Justice for approval.

Interpol Ottawa also represents the organization and its interests in Canada.

Liaison services:

• arranges for resolutions on policy and working methods adopted by Interpol to be applied at the national level to ensure Canada ’s participation in international cooperation
• oversees and coordinates Interpol’s annual program of activities in Canada
• identifies and coordinates the participation of Canadians to Interpol conferences, symposia and meetings to examine current investigations, methods and techniques, specific types of crime and common problems which are of long term or topical interest to law enforcement and
• circulates publications and information bulletins, international crime statistics and analytical studies on criminal activity to the Canadian law enforcement community.