PM Lee said that he supports the partnership of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO) and INTERPOL to bring the role of police peacekeepers to the forefront of the international security agenda.
Meeting the Challenge of Transnational Crime
Today, we all live in a globalised world. Our economies and societies are linked in so many ways. Trade and travel have seen exponential growth. Goods move freely all over the world. Our peoples visit one another’s countries with increasing frequency. Bits and bytes travel even more freely than physical goods and people. Our computers are linked by the worldwide web, and we can communicate by Skype, email, SMS, MSN, Twitter, and so on. Billions of dollars in digital currency can be transferred between jurisdictions in the blink of an eye, whether legally or illegally.
Globalisation has brought untold benefits to countries and to millions of people worldwide. But it has also created some difficult challenges. Crime too has become global. Criminals can move around more easily and run transnational operations and they often direct crime from offshore bases. Using modern communi¬cations tools, criminals can freely exchange information, coordinate their operations and even share “best crime practices”. Jihadist terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and cybercrime are all global in scale and transnational in nature. The same modern day technologies and techniques that improve our lives are easily applied to more sinister ends.
Enhancing International Police Cooperation
To deal with new crimes and more sophisticated criminals, it is necessary, but not sufficient, for Police authorities also to become smarter and better equipped. Police officers must learn the latest technologies, understand how they might be abused by felons, as well as how they could be deployed to enhance policing work. Police services must raise the capabilities of their officers, help them to master the new tools and always to stay one step ahead of criminals. But in addition to this, countries have to cooperate more closely with one another, by sharing intelligence, watching for international fugitives and conducting joint enforcement actions. Only by working together can we effectively tackle transnational crime and terrorism.
INTERPOL plays a vital role as the largest police organisation dedicated to international cooperation. It brings together 187 member countries and facilitates international police cooperation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. It does this by respecting the limits of existing laws in the different countries. Its constitution forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character. This encourages member countries to contribute information on fugitives, terrorists, stolen goods, and stolen or lost travel documents. These are then collated into databases which can be accessed securely. Such cooperation has enabled countries to extend the long arm of the law beyond traditional borders to take collective action against a common enemy. I am happy to note that the INTERPOL network is growing, and that by the end of this Assembly, Samoa will join, making it 188 member countries.
INTERPOL has led or coordinated many successful operations to cripple international syndicates. It has also helped to build global capacity in police agencies, through training and establishing intelligence-sharing protocols for member states. These efforts have enabled police authorities all over the world to prevent, detect and suppress crime.
Singapore benefits greatly from international police cooperation. We are an open, cosmopolitan city, highly connected to the world. Working with other police services multiplies our effectiveness. Through INTERPOL, wanted criminals and terrorists have been returned to Singa¬pore to face justice. We use the Mobile INTERPOL Network Database system to screen travel documents at checkpoints for stolen or lost passports. We have also participated in joint operations. For example, the Singapore Police Force was part of a regional task-force together with China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in two INTERPOL-coordinated operations, codenamed SOGA 1 and 2, which were held in 2007 and 2008 respectively. These two highly successful operations targeted illegal soccer gambling controlled by organised crime gangs. Operation SOGA 2 alone resulted in the arrest of over 1,300 persons across the various countries, and disrupted betting records of almost US$1.5 billion.
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