German cop pips CBI chief in Interpol race

German police officer Juergen Stock has pipped CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to secure the post of Interpol Secretary General with the international organisation’s Executive Committee choosing the former to succeed incumbent Ronald K Noble of the United States.

Sinha was the first Indian to be shortlisted for the post of Secretary General and had appeared in the interview. Candidates from France, Germany, Italy, Jordan and the United Kingdom had also appeared for the interview at Interpol headquarters in France’s Lyon on Tuesday.

The appointment of Stock will be formalised only if Interpol’s supreme governing body, the General Assembly, approves him at a meeting in Monaco in November. 

 If endorsed, he will assume office when current Secretary General Ronald K Noble steps down in 2015.

Since 2004, Stock has been vice-president of the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA). He has previously served as vice-president for Europe on Interpol’s Executive Committee. 

“It is essential that Interpol’s leadership offers the best services and expertise to its member countries as we face new challenges in fighting transnational crime together, and that it supports the skills, tools, resources and capacities of National Central Bureaus to carry out our shared role effectively,” Alan Bersin, the Interpol vice-president who chaired the selection process, said in a statement. “Stock has a distinguished career in policing and fighting crime at the international level, and the Committee has every confidence in his ability to take the organisation forward,” he added.

The selection process began in January this year, after Noble announced that he would be stepping down after almost 15 years at the helm of the world police body.