Responding to the threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is working to increase the use of its biometrics database and capabilities to better track their movement in the fight against crime and terrorism.
Underscoring the growing recognition of biometrics as a critical tool against transnational crime, INTERPOL organized the first Fingerprint and Face Symposium in December 2017 in Lyon, France. The two-day conference brought together 125 experts in the fields of fingerprint examination and facial recognition from 58 countries, private sector partners and academia to discuss the latest biometric tools and techniques.
With member countries sharing examples of potentially dangerous individuals identified as the result of integrating INTERPOL’s biometrics databases into their border checks, the participants also discussed the need for improving the quality of biometric data shared for more accurate identifications which can be used in prosecutions.
Currently, INTERPOL’s fingerprint database contains more than 180,000 records supporting more than 40,000 searches every year, leading to more than 1,700 global identifications in 2017.
A facial images database was launched in 2016 with data provided by more than 135 countries and has generated some 50 positive ‘hits’ in its first year. The INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock contends information sharing is a "tripwire" against foreign terrorist fighters. Stock made the statement as INTERPOL launched its facial recognition database in November 2016.
Source: INTERPOL