What Is Interpol and How Does It Work? Myths vs Facts

What is Interpol, and how does it work? The honest answer disappoints Hollywood: Interpol has no secret agents chasing fugitives across borders. It is an intergovernmental organisation that lets the police forces of its member countries share information and ask each other for help. When an arrest happens, it is always made by the national police of the country where the person is found, under that country's law.

Interpol is not a world police force; it is a network that lets the world's police talk to each other.

Editorial summary based on the Interpol Constitution

Myth 1: “Interpol agents arrest criminals”

Fact: Interpol has no executive powers. Staff at its General Secretariat in Lyon — based there since 1989 — analyse data, run databases and coordinate. Every member country maintains a National Central Bureau (NCB) inside its own police; in the UK it sits within the National Crime Agency, in the US within the Department of Justice. Those bureaus, not Interpol, act on the ground.

Myth 2: “A Red Notice is an international arrest warrant”

Fact: a Red Notice is a request to police worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, based on a judicial warrant issued by one country. Each state decides what weight to give it under domestic law — the United States, for example, does not treat a Red Notice alone as grounds for arrest. Only some notices are published online; many are restricted to law enforcement.

Interpol's colour-coded notices

• Red: locate and provisionally arrest a person wanted by a national judiciary.
• Yellow: locate missing persons, often children.
• Blue: gather more information about a person's identity, location or activities.
• Black: identify unidentified bodies.
• Green: warn about a person's criminal activities where they may pose a threat.
• Orange: warn of an event, object or process posing a serious and imminent danger.
• Purple: share information on modus operandi, objects or concealment methods.
• Silver: trace assets linked to criminal activity, piloted since 2025.

There is also the Interpol–United Nations Security Council Special Notice for individuals and entities under UN sanctions.

Myth 3: “Interpol hunts spies and political enemies”

Fact: Article 3 of its Constitution strictly forbids any intervention or activity of a political, military, religious or racial character. That is why it is not an intelligence service and should not be confused with MI6 or the CIA. The rule has not stopped some governments from trying to misuse the system against dissidents and journalists: NGOs such as Fair Trials have documented politically motivated notices, and since the 2010s Interpol has tightened prior review and added protections for recognised refugees.

Myth 4: “It has always been a neutral body”

Fact: its history has a dark chapter. It was founded in Vienna in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission. After the 1938 Anschluss it fell under Nazi control, moved to Berlin and was presided over by Reinhard Heydrich. Rebuilt after the Second World War with headquarters in Paris, it adopted its current Constitution in 1956 along with the name Interpol, originally its telegraphic address.

What Interpol actually does

• Runs the secure I-24/7 communications network linking NCBs.
• Maintains databases on wanted persons, fingerprints, DNA, stolen travel documents and stolen vehicles.
• Coordinates joint operations against human trafficking, drugs, environmental crime and cybercrime.
• Supports disaster victim identification and trains police in countries with fewer resources.

Oversight and data protection

Anyone who believes they are wrongly listed can apply to the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files (CCF), an independent body that checks whether data complies with Interpol's rules and can order deletion. Its effectiveness is debated: some lawyers see real progress, others point to slow timelines and limited transparency.