International Law Enforcement and SELLING IT!
Anonymous said: Hello! Is it possible for the whole Earth’s law enforcement (SIS, FBI, CIA, detectives, spies etc) to be compiled into one huge organisation that manages big crimes (like homicide etc) on an international basis?
No, but seriously though, I know you meant something much larger than INTERPOL, but you’ve got to start somewhere. INTERPOL is a massive international law enforcement agency, and it’s a tiny real-life version of what I think you’re proposing. With that in mind, INTERPOL has a great About page to get you started. Here is a excerpt from their gloriously functional website:
INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries.
Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.
SUPPORTING POLICE WORLDWIDE
We work to ensure that police around the world have access to the tools and services necessary to do their jobs effectively. We provide targeted training, expert investigative support, relevant data and secure communications channels.
This combined framework helps police on the ground understand crime trends, analyse information, conduct operations and, ultimately, arrest as many criminals as possible.
At INTERPOL, we aim to facilitate international police cooperation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. Action is taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our Constitution prohibits ‘any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character’.
The vision:
“Connecting police for a safer world”.
The mission:
“Preventing and fighting crime through enhanced cooperation and innovation on police and security matters”
Read the full vision and mission.
The General Secretariat is located in Lyon, France, and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. INTERPOL also has seven regional offices across the world and a representative office at the United Nations in New York and at the European Union in Brussels. Each of our 190 member countries maintains a National Central Bureau staffed by its own highly trained law enforcement officials.
Here’s another fun tid-bit I found: “The Organization’s official name is “ICPO–INTERPOL”. The official abbreviation “ICPO” stands for ‘International Criminal Police Organization’. In French this is “O.I.P.C.”, which stands for “Organisation internationale de police criminelle”. The word “INTERPOL” is a contraction of “international police”, and was chosen in 1946 as the telegraphic address. Until 1956, the Organization was known as the International Criminal Police Commission.” (x)
There are several other international law enforcement agencies currently operating around the world, but I’ll leave you to research those for yourself. For now, it occurs to me that you might like to read about how enforcement of international law works and/or might work. Here are two links for you:
How Is International Law Enforced? from Globalization 101
Enforcing International Law from the American Society of International Law
And here are a few links about the International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEA) established by then-President Clinton in October of 1995:
International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEA) from the U.S. Department of State
International Law Enforcement Academy from Wikipedia
While I was Googling, I came across this pretty interesting website called Policeone. It has an international topic section which documents “police news from around the world.” Check it out.
I don’t think I’ve outright answered your question yet. Do I think that a vast global law enforcement organization like the one you’re describing could exist? Yes, eventually. Do I think it would be run particularly well? No.
I wonder who the spies would spy on if not each other’s countries. I wonder how misdemeanors would be handled, and who would decide which crimes were large and which were small. I wonder how a murder in Yemen would be solved if the detectives assigned to it were stationed in Peru. (Or something along those lines. You get it.) I wonder how resources would be allocated and who would pay for everything. I wonder what you mean when you say that this huge organization would “manage” big crimes. (Do you mean “solve” or “orchestrate”?) I wonder how countries would decide which crimes were crimes, especially when rape is still legal in many countries while homosexuality is a crime in others. (To my western mind, that is backwards thinking.) I wonder how borders would be defined in this brave new world. I wonder how countries’ militaries would work. I wonder who runs this giant agency. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. And I’m skeptical that it could ever really work.
But who cares what I think? Write what you want to write. Who’s going to stop you? (This feeling, incidentally, that you can write whatever you want and no one can stop you is delicious and should be savored whenever possible.)
Convince your readers that what you’re proposing in your story is possible—or, at the very least, plausible. You can do it. There’s a mantra improvisational actors have that I think applies well to this situation: SELL IT! It means throw your whole self—everything you know and feel and believe—into convincing others of your truth, even if it’s a boldface lie. Sweat with the effort of this work until your own sweat becomes proof of its veracity. Even if you’re not sure. Even if you’re worried what you have is not enough. SELL IT!
If you’re starting from real-world facts and stretching them to suit your own purposes, SELL IT! If you’re baking up a whole universe from scratch, SELL IT! Research is part of selling it yes, but so is sheer moxie. You’ve got to have both. You’ve got to be meticulous and gregarious. It’s a balance, and you’ll find that balance for yourself as you grow as a writer.
In conclusion, please do your own research. I’ve found some stuff for you to look into here, but nothing replaces the confidence you get from doing your own research. It’s a fundamental part of the creative process. If I did all of your research for you, you would be limited to only the things I could think of, and that’s no good. You have to fall down a few dozen research rabbit holes. You have to get lost, learn, have ideas along the way. Research is how you grow your story.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by how much there is to know, and that’s perfectly fine. There’s a lot to know out there, after all. Eventually, research will become another vital step of your creative work. It’s all part of writing.
Do the best you can and fake it around the edges. Trust me, that’s what everyone else is doing, too.
Good luck with your story, and thanks for your question! I hope this helped!
P.S. I wrote out this whole article twice because the first time I accidentally closed the tab when I had just finished writing the final paragraph. You’re welcome.
