India is hosting the 3rd INTERPOL Young Global Police Leaders Program (YGPLP) from 25th January to 2nd February. 59 participants from 44 countries are taking part in the programme.

Today, INTERPOL Secretary General Mr. Jurgen Stock addressed the participants via virtual mode to mentor young police leaders. Mr. Jurgen Stock said:

“It is my great pleasure to return to New Delhi, home of one of the most successful INTERPOL General Assemblies, I have experienced, to be part of the official opening of the third (3rd) edition of the INTERPOL Young Global Police Leaders Programme”. 

He complimented the Central Bureau of Investigation for hosting this event, the engaging programme developed, and thanked the Republic of India for its continued commitment to INTERPOL.

Recalling the words of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi when he addressed the General Assembly last year that “Crime somewhere is crime everywhere”, he said “the main theme before us is maintaining trust in the criminal investigation process in a digitised world”. Mr. Stock underlined that this brings together, two inescapable realities of our times. 

First, the ongoing challenges – and opportunities – arising in the criminal landscape that come from the emergence of artificial intelligence, big data, and augmented reality – including through disruptions like the Metaverse. Second, the ongoing globalisation of criminal activity and the fundamental necessity for a collaborative approach to effectively combat it. 

He told the participants that it will be your decision-making and the culture that you create within police forces around the world that will establish whether trust, the building block of international police cooperation, is embedded in policing in the 2020s, the 2030s, and beyond. 

He also said that the use of new technology is always treated with more skepticism when deployed by governments rather than by the private sector. In the face of that challenge, as leaders he said, you need to ensure that the right protections are in place, and the risks you identify are addressed. A second building block for trust, Mr. Stock said, is not only in designing the right system, but in delivering results. 

Third, he said, you build trust with the right mindset. The international dimension of criminality can be linked to almost any aspect of modern crime. Think of drug use, property theft, forced labour…– sitting behind many crimes that appear domestic, are regional and global networks that exploit borders to engage in borderless criminal activity. 

INTERPOL’s value, Mr. Stock stressed, is not just for screening for international travelers – it is a platform to integrate global criminal intelligence into local policing. Further, he emphasized that we are here – to build bridges across police forces, founded on a common mission to foster global collaboration, which will span distance – and time. 

Mr Stock concluded by quoting Prime Minister Shri Modi during his address at the General Assembly, “When the forces of good cooperate, the forces of bad, cannot operate”.
    
During his address today, Sh. Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Director CBI said that overall, this programme will give an overview of the scale and scope of policing system in India and the various innovations and best practices being adopted and help in capacity building of the future police leadership. He also said that recently, the entire global police community was in India with delegations from 166 countries for the 90th INTERPOL General Assembly in October, 2022. 

Shri Jaiswal stated, “Continuing with the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world is one family, the Young Global Police Leaders Programme provides an inspirational platform for not only young police officers from across the world but also for youth in general. 

The rich professional capabilities, innovations and best practices developed by police in India can be a template for other countries to emulate. This initiative also seeks to contribute towards international capacity building in the policing domain inline with spirit of Vishvaguru Bharat”.

Earlier on 25.01.2023, Shri Pankaj Kumar Singh Deputy National Security Advisor (Govt of India) and Mrs. S Sundari Nanda, Special Secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs also interacted with the participants.

The Young Global Police Leaders have attended as audience in the Republic Day celebrations on 26th January. On 27th January, they paid homage at the National Police Memorial. 

During the programme they will inter alia visit CBI Headquarters, Global Operations Centre, Delhi Police Headquarters, Maharashtra Police Headquarters and Mumbai Police Control Room. They are making a study visit to National Forensic Science University, Gandhinagar.

INTERPOL Young Global Police Leaders Program (YGPLP) is a flagship INTERPOL leadership program for promising young police officers. Event brings together young police leaders (below 37 years of age) holding vital assignments in their respective countries and help them develop an international perspective and understanding. It seeks to Empower the next generation of International Police leaders through Mentoring from experienced officers.

This international Programme was designed to allow participants to have an engaged discussion about emerging trends in policing and provide them with mentoring from experienced international leaders and high-ranking officers from various countries and organizations, as well as experts. The INTERPOL Innovation Centre in the Executive Directorate of Technology & Innovation facilitates the Programme.

The Programme will address, as a central theme, the growing challenge for law enforcement to continue building trust with the citizens they serve, and particularly while crime fighting in an increasingly digitalized world. The Programme will also address the growing imperative for collaboration. 

Faced with more and more transnational and complex crimes, partnerships across bureaucratic, jurisdictional and disciplinary boundaries will become an increasingly crucial tool for policing in the near future. This will include cooperation with other law enforcement organization and security organizations, but also policymakers, academia, technological firms and other private entities. 

The Programme aims to highlight the need for identifying, analyzing, visualizing, and improving concepts that help build and/or maintain trust within global criminal investigation; Emphasize the importance of international cooperation and the role of INTERPOL as a proponent of it; Coach Young Global Police Leaders through engaging and interactive programme activities; Facilitate discourse and knowledge exchange and Provide avenues for global network building.