Ronald Noble, the head of international crime-busting organization Interpol, gave a rare insight into the group’s workings when he was grilled by more than 30 AAPA members on Feb. 3. Noble has headed the Lyon-based organization since 2000 and was recently re-elected to a third five-year term. He told us how Interpol is grappling with the ever-increasing workload of international cooperation among the police forces of its 188 member countries and is trying to stay abreast of shifting trends in cross-border criminality. The event was timely, with Interpol in the news over the hunt for former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, and attempts by Sweden to bring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange into custody. Noble explained the subtleties between international wanted notices and Interpol “Red Notices” that are more constraining, though neither actually constitutes an arrest warrant. He talked about Interpol’s increasingly important role in helping to combat terrorism, and how it has become a vast clearing house for information exchange, and talked about maritime piracy, people trafficking and the carbon trading scam, new forms of international crime that didn’t exist or were much less prevalent 10 years ago. This high-profile AAPA meeting was held on the premises of Bloomberg, and a hearty thanks to Greg Viscusi for helping to make it a success.
— By David Pearson.
