What Interpol Can and Cannot Do About an Arrest
No. The Organization has no officers with powers of arrest, no jurisdiction of its own, and no authority to compel any country to act. Every arrest that follows an alert is made by national police, under national law, on a national decision.
What the Organization actually does
- Channels
- It operates the communication network between the national bureaux of member countries.
- Data
- It holds and circulates data supplied by those countries.
- No police powers
- It employs no officers who can detain anyone anywhere.
- No jurisdiction
- It cannot order a country to arrest, and it does not review the merits of a national case.
How far an alert reaches before anyone decides
The Organization has 196 member countries, and an alert reaches the national bureau of each of them. What happens next is decided under national law, country by country — which is why the same alert produces a detention in one state and nothing at all in another. Nothing in the alert itself compels any of them to act.
Who does make the arrest
The police of the country where the person is found, if that country decides to act. Whether it does depends on its own law, its treaty position and its own assessment of the request. Where no treaty exists the route changes — where an arrest is unlikely.
The instrument that asks for it
A red notice is a request, not an order — what the alert itself is. A diffusion asks for similar action through a different route and with less review — how a diffusion differs from a notice.
What follows an arrest is a separate decision under national law — red notice and extradition compared.
If you have been detained or questioned
Detention is dealt with locally; the data behind it is dealt with in parallel. Our red notice defence practice.
Request a free case assessmentFrequently asked
Can Interpol arrest you at an airport?
No. Border officers of that country can, if the country decides to act on the alert.
Does Interpol have its own agents?
It has staff, but none with police powers in any member country.
Who makes the arrest after a red notice?
National police, on a national decision, under national law.
How long can you be detained on a red notice?
This is set by the local law on provisional arrest pending an extradition request, and differs sharply by country.
Can a country refuse to act on a red notice?
Yes, and several do as a matter of policy where they consider a request politically motivated.