The International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol, has issued a report that examines the metaverse from a law enforcement perspective. The report considers illegality in the metaverse, including metacrime, metaverse forensics, governance, and the opportunities it presents for using it in favor of law enforcement agencies.
Interpol Examines Law Enforcement in the Metaverse
Interpol, the international police organization, is beginning to consider the possibilities of crimes in the metaverse and how to fight them. Last week, the police institution issued a report called “Metaverse: A Law Enforcement Perspective,” which specifies the different crimes that can be committed in the metaverse and the opportunities it presents for improving the response of law enforcement agencies.
Jurgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol, recognizes that the rise of virtual worlds represents an opening for organizations to expand their crimes to the metaverse. He stated:
The rise of powerful technologies such as the Metaverse is making the criminal landscape increasingly complex and transnational, posing new challenges for law enforcement.
One of these challenges is the lack of unique governance in the metaverse, given that these digital worlds are hosted across many countries. In this sense, the report states that “ensuring the application of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other existing international laws in the Metaverse would be fundamental.”
So, Interpol advocates for a holistic approach that involves various stakeholders of the metaverse and cross-border cooperation, deeming it ‘essential’ for orchestrating an effective response to crimes committed within the metaverse.
The report also recognizes that the metaverse can be used to improve the capabilities of police agencies. For example, digital worlds could be used for training purposes for catastrophe response or to practice vigilance tasks on specific landmarks or areas reproduced on the metaverse. Also, meetings can be held on the metaverse to improve interoperability between police agencies.
In addition, reproducing crime scenes in virtual environments could make examining cases across agencies possible. In October 2022, Interpol launched the first police-focused metaverse to act as a central hub and help police members from several organizations familiarize themselves with these new worlds and the crimes that can be committed in them.
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