Jurgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol, has stated that the global police agency is investigating how they could monitor crime in the metaverse. The metaverse is a widely debated, but yet to be realized, concept where individuals will be represented by 3D avatars in their online lives. Interpol has created its own virtual reality (VR) space, where users can attend training courses and virtual meetings. Stock claimed that criminals are very sophisticated and professional in quickly adapting to any new technological tool available for committing crimes.
This secure environment, which can only be accessed through secure servers, allows police officers to experience what the metaverse could be like, giving them an idea of the crimes that could occur and how they could be monitored. Some believe that the metaverse could be the future of the internet. Virtual reality is thought to be what modern smartphones are to the first, clunky mobile phones of the 1980s. Instead of being on a computer, in the metaverse, you could use lenses to enter a virtual world that connects all types of digital environments. However, as it is still just an idea, there is no consensus definition of the metaverse.
According to Madan Oberoi, Executive Director of Technology and Innovation at Interpol, one of the major challenges faced by Interpol is raising awareness of these issues. Oberoi stated, “The example I usually use is that if you have to save a person who is drowning, you need to know how to swim.” He went on to say, “Similarly, if law enforcement is interested in helping people who have been injured in the metaverse, they need to know the metaverse, and that is one of our goals: to make sure that law enforcement personnel start using the metaverse and become aware.”