International Police Launch Metaverse; watch video

The International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol announced this Friday (21) the launch of its metaverse, designed for activities such as immersive training courses for criminal investigations.

Unveiled at the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi, India, the Interpol Metaverse is described as the “first metaverse designed specifically for law enforcement around the world”.

Among other things, the platform will also help law enforcement around the planet interact with each other through avatars, according to the announcement.

Metaverse is a common name for a future vision of an immersive internet where virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets play a huge role in online experiences – and potentially even replacing some real-world activities.

As virtual worlds evolve, concerns arise about potential crimes from the metaverse, including crimes against children, data theft, forgery, ransomware, sexual assault and harassment.

“To many, the metaverse seems to herald an abstract future, but the questions it raises are the ones that have always motivated Interpol – supporting our member countries to fight crime and making the world, virtual or otherwise, safer for those who inhabit it. ,” Jürgen Stock, Interpol’s secretary general, said in a statement.

Interpol fights crime in the metaverse

One of the challenges identified by law enforcement organizations is that something that is considered a crime in the physical world may not necessarily be the same in the virtual world.

“By identifying these risks early on, we can work with stakeholders to shape the necessary governance structures and cut future criminal markets before they are fully formed,” said Madan Oberoi, Executive Director of Technology and Innovation at Interpol. “Only by having these conversations now can we build an effective response.”

In a live demonstration at the event, Interpol experts went to a metaverse classroom to deliver a training course on travel document verification and passenger screening using the capabilities of the newly launched platform.

The students were then teleported to an airport, where they were able to apply their newly acquired skills at a virtual border point.

In addition, Interpol has created a group of experts who will be tasked with ensuring that new virtual worlds are “safe by design”.

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