Candidate for Interpol’s top job puts focus on cyber crime
▶ UK candidate Stephen Kavanagh wants crime-fighting solutions equal to the problem, writes John Dennehy
Global law enforcement must be prepared to adapt to an ever-changing criminal threat set to break through borders and invade the metaverse.
That was the message from a senior police officer who is aiming to lead efforts to protect the public in the real and virtual world at Interpol.
Stephen Kavanagh, the British candidate for agency secretary general, told of the dangers posed by increasingly sophisticated deepfakes and cyber blackmail.
But he said the world’s largest policing body – which has 196 members – must remain vigilant against the familiar foes of trafficking and terrorism.
He stressed that protecting all victims of crime, whatever its form, is paramount.
“Interpol may be 100 years old but it is more relevant than it has ever been,” said Mr Kavanagh during a visit to the UAE. “Victims around the world are the ones we should be focusing on.”
He admitted Interpol may be viewed by some as a “talking shop”, but it must ensure it uses its resources to disrupt crime.
Mr Kavanagh highlighted the need for police forces to be given sufficient support to “understand the implications” of the misuse of advanced technology and the ability of organised crime groups to meet in the metaverse. Mr Kavanagh, who spent more than 20 years at the Metropolitan Police, served during a period of intense challenges such as the 2005 terror attacks. He also spent about five years at Essex Police.
For the past four years, he has been executive director of police services at Interpol and praised its collaborations with the UAE, such as supporting Cop28’s efforts to tackle environmental crimes.
Mr Kavanagh said it was crucial to combat the funding of terrorism through criminal enterprises such as human and drug trafficking.
He believes the future for Interpol will involve helping members to “join the dots”.
“If we keep treating seizures as isolated pieces of work, then we are going to continue to fail. If we recognise that each presents an opportunity to look at those networks, then we are going to start dismantling them.”
Global law enforcement agency Interpol must have a “clear vision” to deal with a rapidly evolving criminal landscape that knows no borders, a senior British police officer says.
Stephen Kavanagh, UK candidate for the post of Interpol secretary general, raised the spectre of a “data-driven” age of criminal threats, from deepfake video calls that con people out of money to blackmail using fake images.
Mr Kavanagh, who was in the UAE on Monday, says there must be a global response to such global challenges.
He says law enforcement groups “need to be supported to understand the implications” of cyber crime.
He spoke of how women have been blackmailed with fake lurid images of themselves in abusive situations, saying criminals “isolate the individuals, blackmail them, take the money and often these individuals can be so isolated from their families they lose contact or, worse, take their life”.
Another front opened by criminals was using deepfake videos generated by AI to infiltrate company meetings, where intruders pose as board members and dupe unsuspecting executives into transferring money.
“That’s where the future of Interpol has to be – in a data-driven age where you could have a victim in one continent, an offender in a second continent and the data for those crimes in another location,” says Mr Kavanagh. “No one country can be an island.”
Mr Kavanagh, who met Interpol president Ahmed Al Raisi while in the UAE and praised him for his focus on technological crimes, is an officer with decades of experience.
He spent more than 20 years at London’s Metropolitan Police, serving during a period of intense challenges such as the 2005 terrorist attacks, and then spent about five years at nearby Essex Police.
For the past four years, he has been executive director of police services at Interpol and praised work undertaken with the UAE to support the Cop28 process for tackling environmental crime. Now he believes the future for Interpol will involve helping member countries to “join the dots” and confront global crime.
He refers to what is known as Lionfish V, an operation in 2022 co-ordinated by Interpol and the UAE that involved scores of countries.
Twenty tonnes of cocaine were seized, more than 1,300 arrests were made and $700 million confiscated.
“If we keep treating seizures as isolated pieces of work, then we are going to continue to fail. If we recognise that each presents an opportunity to look at those global networks, then we are going to start dismantling them.”
In a case of child abuse in Peru, investigators in Australia and Canada assisting in the search were unable to identify the location of the victim.
“We were able to bring their data together, and, working with local law enforcement, that child was rescued,” Mr Kavanagh says. Money laundering is simply “huge”, he says, stating that he was responsible for setting up the financial crime and anti-corruption centre at Interpol.
He praised the agency’s efforts at tackling the Black Axe West African crime gang’s activities in Europe and says groups such as the Kinahan Organised Crime Group rely on the “exploitation of borders – they rely on inability of law enforcement to share information quickly”.
Turning to the Middle East, Mr Kavanagh says terrorism “continues to be a threat and [is] morphing into serious and organised crime, so we see drug trafficking [and] human trafficking supporting the purchase of equipment [and] training of individuals”.
Interpol’s secretary general runs the agency on a day-to-day basis, while the president plays a role in supervising the work.
It faces challenges. The biggest of these are how the agency is funded and suggestions its red-notice system could be misused by states.
Interpol depends on contributions, and Mr Kavanagh says funding for projects sometimes causes countries to fear “there are other strings attached”.
He says that if appointed secretary general, he would like to make the agency “less reliant” on contributions and work more with foreign ministries to ensure sustainable funding.
He says it was important to recognise Interpol is not “just about cops and robbers”, but building better standards of law enforcement including help for forces with fewer resources.
He faces candidates from Pakistan, Zambia and Brazil for the top job when Interpol’s executive makes its choice in June.
When asked about the criticism that red notices – which show a person is wanted by a member country – could be manipulated, he said he was proud of his work in making the system better.
“Every year, thousands have been arrested for murder, rape, serious assault [and] fraud,” he says.
“If Interpol can’t be trusted, if innocent individuals are arrested, then Interpol is letting law enforcement down.”