Police organizations are facing difficulties when adopting certain policies to enforce the law in the metaverse. However, Jurgen Stock, the Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, believes the organization must be prepared to act on crimes that are happening in the digital world.
The organization is currently preparing to expand its operations to platforms utilized by some groups to commit crimes in the metaverse. In a BBC interview, Stock stated:
“Criminals are sophisticated and professional in very quickly adapting to any new technological tool that is available to commit a crime. We need to sufficiently respond to that. Sometimes lawmakers, police, and our societies are running a little bit behind.”
Among these crimes currently happening in the metaverse there are verbal harassment, assaults, and others including ransomware, counterfeiting, money laundering, and financial fraud. However, some of these are still in legal gray areas.
According to Dr. Madan Oberoi, Interpol’s executive director of technology and innovation, one of the main issues the agency is now facing is assessing whether certain activity on the metaverse qualifies as a crime or not.
He stated, “If you look at the definitions of these crimes in physical space, and you try to apply it in the metaverse, there is a difficulty. We don’t know whether we can call them a crime or not, but those threats are definitely there, so those issues are yet to be resolved.”
Oberoi knows for a fact that Interpol must communicate with and be present on metaverse platforms in order to police the metaverse. This is why the organization already has its own place in the metaverse, which was inaugurated during its 90th General Assembly in New Delhi in October.
Interpol’s metaverse platform also serves another purpose by enabling it to provide training online to personnel from other nations and enabling them to immediately put their new skills to use in the metaverse.