U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE U.S. NATIONAL CENTRAL BUREAU OF INTERPOL

PROGRAMS

INTERPOL International Notice Program

INTERPOL administers a system of international lookout/advisory notices to assist law enforcement authorities of INTERPOL's member countries.  The notices, color- coded to designate their specific purposes, are issued by INTERPOL's General Secretariat in Lyon, France, at the request of member countries, and are distributed to member countries and their appropriate law enforcement officials. 

The Interpol-U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB) is responsible for seeking the issuance of all INTERPOL notices on behalf of all U.S. authorities, and alerting U.S. authorities to the existence of INTERPOL notices issued by other countries.  U.S. law enforcement authorities seeking the issuance of any of the INTERPOL notices described below should contact the USNCB at 202-616-9000 for guidance.

Summary of INTERPOL Notices
Red notices are issued in order to seek the location and arrest of fugitives for the purpose of extradition. A red Notice serves as an international wanted notice and provides information on the identification of fugitives charged with, or convicted of serious crimes. The country initiating the notice commits to seeking the provisional arrest and extradition of the fugitive in question should he or she be located. A request for a Red notice must concern a person who is the subject of an arrest warrant and is wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence. Approximately, one third of INTERPOL member countries (not including the U.S.) consider a Red notice to be a valid request for provisional arrest and will detain the subject of a Red notice.

Blue notices are issued in order to seek the location of, identify, or obtain information about persons of interest in criminal investigations, including offenders, suspects, and witnesses. They may also be issued for a close acquaintance (relative, friend, or associate) of an offender whose whereabouts may assist in locating an offender.

Yellow notices are issued in order to locate a missing person (adult or minor, including kidnapping victims) or to identify a person who is unable to identify him or herself.

Green notices are issued in order to circulate information for crime prevention and public safety purposes about persons likely to be involved in criminal activity. They may be issued for persons who have criminal convictions or a criminal record (when a police investigation has established significant evidence of guilt) for serious offenses, or when the nature of the alleged offense(s) makes it possible to conclude that the person concerned is likely to engage in criminal activity of a serious nature committed by a gang operating in more than one country.

Black notices are issued in order to circulate information about unidentified dead bodies or deceased persons in order to identify them.

Purple notices are issued in order to circulate information about certain modus operandi, procedures, hiding places, objects and devices, used by criminals, which may be used in a similar way in several regions of the world.

Orange notices are urgent warnings that provide information about procedures or modus operandi that constitute imminent threats and are likely to cause serious damage to property and/or injury to persons.

Notices about stolen property are issued to circulate information about cultural property (paintings, art objects, items from archaeological digs, etc.) stolen or discovered in suspicious circumstances.