INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL POLICE ORGANIZATION (INTERPOL)
The concept of achieving cooperation among police agencies in different countries became a reality in 1923 with the creation of the International Criminal Police Organization, known today as INTERPOL. Today, INTERPOL’s membership totals 185 nations.
The United States’s membership in the INTERPOL, authorized by an Act of Congress in 1938, has grown into one of the very important instruments for American law enforcement and criminal justice. In an effort to be responsive to all U.S. law enforcement interests, the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB) has established sub-bureaus in both the Caribbean and Pacific Regions. American Samoa became a sub-bureau of the United States INTERPOL in 1988 and on July 10, 1991, the U.S. Department of Justice created a single sub-bureau Pacific Sub-Bureau of USNCB to service the U.S. Pacific Region which include American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and designated American Samoa as the Central Communication Center.
The United States Sub-Bureau operates independently and has the authority to interact with all INTERPOL member countries. The USNCB, on its part, shall provide guidance to and supervision of the Pacific Sub-Bureau including conducting of periodic audit of the Pacific Sub-Bureau’s operation to insure compliance with the INTERPOL Constitution, By-laws, general regulations and operating standards of the USNCB in Washington, D.C.
INTERPOL National Central Bureaus in the South Pacific Region are Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga. Australia is the Regional Station for the INTERPOL South Pacific Telecommunications which includes the U.S. Pacific Sub-Bureau headquartered in American Samoa. |
