What is INTERPOL and what role does it play in tackling global crime?

Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attended the 92nd INTERPOL General Assembly in Glasgow, outlining the government’s mission to dismantle people-smuggling networks.

In his opening address, the Prime Minister emphasised the need for a reset in the UK’s approach and called for intensified international cooperation to tackle the global scale of the threat.

"The world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge." - Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Criminal networks are now increasingly connected, with no respect for national borders.

Serious and organised crime causes more harm, to more people than any other national security threat. This is why collaboration with international partners, including INTERPOL, has never been more important.

At the Assembly, the Prime Minister also announced that the UK will increase its funding to INTERPOL by ￡6 million to fund projects such as Operation Lionfish which saw $1.6b of drugs seized, much of which destined for Europe.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also spoke at the Assembly, reinforcing the Prime Minister’s message with a call for stronger international cooperation to confront human traffickers. She highlighted the pressing need for deeper alliances to tackle this exploitative trade that operates across borders, echoing the government’s commitment to global partnerships in addressing shared security challenges.

What is INTERPOL?

INTERPOL is made up of 196 member countries and helps the world's law enforcement to share information on types of crime and intelligence on new techniques used by criminals.

The law enforcement agency gives police forces around the globe 24/7 live access to over 19 INTERPOL databases for international intelligence sharing on crime. They also produce new threat assessments and support direct country-to-country communication to track and disrupt criminal activity.?

INTERPOL’s unique capabilities are one of the most important ways we collaborate with law enforcement across the globe, preventing criminals from entering the UK or fleeing justice for a crime they have already committed.?

Almost all serious and organised crime now has an international link. Borders are meaningless to criminals and collaboration with INTERPOL has never been more important.

"Criminal-smuggler gangs profit from undermining our border security and putting lives at risk, and they have been getting away with it for far too long,” - Home Secretary Yvette Cooper

Our commitment to tackling organised immigration crime

As a result of the threat of organised immigration crime, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary announced an additional ￡75 million boost in funding to boost UK border security.

These funds will allow state-of-the-art tech to boost enforcement and intelligence capabilities. This includes 300 new staff for the Border Security Command, who will strengthen global partnerships, deliver new legislation, and lead the system through investment and strategy. As well as this, we’ll also recruit 100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the National Crime Agency, who will be dedicated to targeting, dismantling and disrupting organised immigration crime networks that are facilitating people-smuggling. ? ?

￡150 million of investment to UK border security over the next two years

This additional funding brings investment in the Border Security Command over the next two years to ￡150 million to drive down organised immigration crime both at home and overseas.

The new Border Security Command led by Martin Hewitt CBE QPM will provide an end-to-end approach to preventing dangerous boat crossings, disrupting organised criminal gangs facilitating them and strengthening Britain’s border security. The Command will also coordinate the work of intelligence agencies and law enforcement, who lead joint investigations with European counterparts to ensure we can bring those responsible to justice.

“Our new Border Security Command, with the investment set out today, will mean a huge step change in the way we target these criminal gangs.” - Home Secretary Yvette Cooper

International cooperation is essential to tackle organised immigration crime networks. We will continue to strengthen our joint efforts with international partners, enhancing security agreements to enable greater sharing of intelligence. This will support more joint operational work to ensure that those who profit from human suffering are brought to justice.