The International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol has a staff of over 700 and has its headquarters in Lyons, France. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) in 1923 and adopted its telegraphic address as its common name in 1956.
Interpol is not a police force, but is more of an intelligence gathering agency that liaisons with criminal law enforcement agencies and other agencies from different countries. It is expressly forbidden to engage in any intervention of a political, religious, or racial character. It is chiefly concerned with terrorism, human rights violations, genocides, organized crime, and the trafficking of drugs, guns, and counterfeit merchandise.
INTERPOL Notices are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information. Interpol has other colored notices (Black, Green, etc.) covering various criminal activities. A blue notice is a request for more information about a particular individual in connection with a crime. A black is a request for more information about an unidentified body.
Notices are published by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat at the request of National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and authorized entities, and can be published in any of the Organization’s official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
In the case of Red Notices, the persons concerned are wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant or court decision. INTERPOL’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying and locating these persons with a view to their arrest and extradition or similar lawful action.