Police to Police Requests for Assistance in Criminal Investigations

Interpol Ottawa

From Canada to a Foreign Country

Canadian police who wish to enter a foreign country for the purpose of assisting authorities in that country in a criminal investigation must do the following:

• Request permission from the foreign state to enter their country for the purpose of conducting a criminal investigation.
• Requests should be made via INTERPOL Ottawa. Each request will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, as regulations vary from one country to the other.
• Once the request has been approved, ensure you have proper travel documents. For some countries a passport and visa is required, for others a valid passport only.

From a Foreign Country to Canada:

• The Foreign Criminal Investigator’s Protocol came into effect in January 2007. It re-affirms and clarifies the notification and approval procedures for foreign investigators pursuing criminal investigations in Canada.
• It also defines the process that foreign criminal investigators, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and Canadian law enforcement officials must follow before allowing foreign criminal investigators to enter Canada to pursue a criminal investigation.
• The Protocol does not replace existing formal notification mechanisms, such as INTERPOL, or mechanisms that form part of bilateral or multilateral arrangements.

For more information on the Protocol, please see Protocol on Foreign Criminal Investigators in Canada.