Text 4 (С) Interpol

Interpol is an international corporation founded in 1923 as a service organization devoted to coordinating actions against international criminals. Its clients are 174 agencies throughout the world. This organi­zation is not under the control or supervision of any government.

Interpol is a recognized intergovernmental police force whose task is to hunt down the international criminal. A multinational force, much like the United Nations, Interpol is made up of police of the Free World and a bona fide law enforcement agency in its own right. Among the first to fight international terrorism and sky-jackings, Interpol still leads the war on narcotics, assists a number of nations in the continuing search for wanted Nazi war criminals. One of the most highly respected groups in the world, Interpol, like any other police force is under gov­ernmental control to safeguard the basic rights of every citizen. It oper­ates according to a strict code of behaviour and adheres to the highest ethical standards.

Interpol has never been recognized or established by any interna­tional charter or treaty and has no police powers. Because of Interpol's cooperation with the UN particularly in the area of drugs, Interpol was recognized as an intergovernmental organization.

Interpol members are, for the most part, police and not govern­mental representatives, although certain governments have sent ob­servers from their military, intelligence, customs, post office, and im­migration departments.

Interpol does not have powers of arrest or any investigative rights. Its function is to disseminate information. Today 80 percent of the per­manent staff is French. Interpol is much like any large corporation with bureaus in various countries and with representatives from these offices also stationed at the main office. Information is exchanged between the many national bureaus, but the police forces themselves are subject to the laws and policies of their respective nations.

Interpol is divided into four main bodies — the General Assembly, the Executive Committee, the General Secretariat and the National Central Bureau.

The General Assembly is composed of the delegates from each member country. It is «the Supreme Authority». The General Assembly; controls the policy of the organization.

The Executive Committee is a nine-member board made-up of the president, two vice-presidents, and six delegates chosen by the General Assembly.

The General Secretariat, the permanent body, located in Lion, is Interpol's business division. It contains the «permanent departments four of which specialize in certain crimes: one handles murder, burglary assault, larceny, car theft, and missing persons; another deals with bank frauds and other types of embezzlement; a third with drug traffic and morals offenses; and a fourth deals with forgery and counterfeiting.

Other divisions are the general records department, where files are kept, and a special records department, where fingerprints and other methods of identification are used.

The National Central Bureaus are the Interpol offices in various countries. Each NCB is empowered to communicate directly with and exchange information with any other NCB.

ВАРИАНТ 1