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

U.S. Collaborates With INTERPOL To Secure U.S. Seaports Through Expanded Use Of International Stolen/Lost Passport Data

On November 17th, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB) of INTERPOL, in cooperation with the U.S. Customs & Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security, expanded use of the INTERPOL Stolen/Lost Travel Document Database (SLTD) to automated checks conducted at U.S. seaports. The SLTD contains over 16 million reports of lost/stolen travel documents, including 9 million stolen/lost passports reported by 142 INTERPOL member countries. Earlier in the year, INTERPOL checks were incorporated at U.S. international airports, such as Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC and John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Since that time, the system has allowed U.S. border protection officers to examine over 4,000 cases of potential fraud related to the use of documents reported as lost or stolen by INTERPOL. U.S. border officials identify an average of three cases of fraud per month at U.S. borders. As one DHS official recently stated, "SLTD is paying dividends and finding problem documents that have not been flagged in other U.S. systems; additionally, the results are inarguable."

"Our goal is to provide direct, international query capability to each federal, state, and local law enforcement agency in the United States and, ultimately, to the officer on the street. The recent expansion of the SLTD directly supports this goal." said Martin Renkiewicz.
Renkiewicz is an ICE Supervisory Special Agent, currently serving a three-year term as USNCB Director.