The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is an intergovernmental organisation that facilitates international police cooperation.
The organisation publishes notice as an international alert used by police to communicate information about crimes, criminals and threats to their counterparts around the world.
There are eight types of notice, seven of which are colour-coded by their function: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, Orange, and Purple.
The most well-known notice is the red notice which seeks the location and arrest of a person wanted by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his/her extradition.
Red notice is the "closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today.”
Later, following the request of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the eighth special notice is issued.
Interpol circulates the eight types of notice to all member states at the request of a member or an authorised international entity.
The information circulated via notices to the concerned individuals wanted for serious crimes, missing persons, unidentified bodies, possible threats, prison escapes and criminals' modi operandi.
Notices are published either Interpol’s own initiative, or based on requests from its member states' National Central Bureaus (NCBs) or authorised international entities such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
Interpol publishes all notices on its secure website. Moreover, extracts of notices may also be published on Interpol's public website if the requesting entity agrees.
A notice that adheres to all the proper legal conditions can only be published by the Interpol.
There are four official languages of Interpol and these are English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. And notices can be issued in any of the four official languages.
