A Royal Gibraltar Police Officer has just returned from the largest gathering of senior law enforcement officials in the world – Interpol’s 92nd General Assembly in Glasgow. 

A statement from the RGP follows below:

Detective Sergeant Stuart Manfred, who works in Gibraltar’s Interpol Branch, joined 1,000 attendees from 190 countries for the four-day international event in Scotland. 

The event was opened by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who highlighted the need  for international police cooperation to combat organised crime. 

The General Assembly is the governing body of Interpol. It meets annually with  representatives from each country to discuss international policing. 

Those attending included criminology experts, police chiefs and senior ministry  officials, who aim to reduce criminal activity worldwide. 

Some of the topics discussed were biometric frontline capabilities and being able to  identify criminals and terrorists to stop them from crossing international borders.  

Attendees also discussed artificial intelligence and its potential in doing  administrative tasks for police forces. 

DS Manfred, who also spent a day discussing working practices with British  Overseas Territories including Anguilla, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, Montserrat and  the British Virgin Islands, said: “Whilst being a small jurisdiction, Gibraltar has to  remain vigilant and be constantly aware of the risk of transnational criminality. Global  crimes such as drug and human trafficking, cybercrime and money laundering have  a significant impact on people's lives and events such as this give law enforcement  partners the opportunity to collaborate and build working relationships.  

“Only in the last month was a suspect arrested in Gibraltar after Interpol systems  flagged that they were wanted in France, proving that the system works. Gibraltar  will never be a safe haven for criminality and it is essential that we remain a cog in  the global fight against crime and terrorism.” 

DS Manfred, who also heads the RGP’s Force Intelligence department, also joined a  select number of commonwealth delegates to have lunch with the Duke of  Edinburgh, Prince Edward, who gave a speech at the event’s closing ceremony. 

Established in 1923 in Vienna, Austria, Interpol exists to combat crime worldwide  and allows for police from different countries to get in contact with one another.  Interpol also allows experts in criminology from around the world to share their  expertise wherever it might be needed.