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.

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.