Interpol’s Lyon office launches a police-oriented metaverse

This new virtual world, which allows users to visit the institution’s offices in Lyon, aims to advance the understanding of metaverse crimes and offers users the opportunity to receive training in various fields.

Interpol launches a metaverse world

The metaverse is being exploited for more than just recreational and commercial purposes. Interpol announced the launch of what is supposed to be the first police-oriented metaverse experiment at its 90th General Assembly in New Delhi.

The goal of the experiment is to contribute to law enforcement around the world by allowing Interpol members to experience the metaverse in different forms. According to Madan Oberoi, executive director of technology and innovation at Interpol, this is a key element for the future of virtual world policing. Madan Oberoi stated::

The metaverse has the potential to transform every aspect of our daily lives, with huge implications for law enforcement. But for law enforcement to understand the metaverse, we need to experience it.

Interpol is concerned about the new type of crimes that can be committed in the metaverse, including crimes against children, data theft, money laundering, financial fraud, counterfeiting, ransomware, phishing, sexual assault and harassment. Because these crimes are committed in a different way than in the real world, this presents a significant challenge to the organization.

The World Economic Forum also expressed concern specifically about the safety of young people in the metaverse, with recommendations on how to maintain a clean ecosystem.

An educational approach

However, the Interpol metaverse also has another function. The ability to educate police officers around the world from a central hub. This means that distance learning tasks can be more immersive and engaging for students, according to the institution.

In a live demonstration of these capabilities, Interpol delivered a course on travel document verification and passenger screening that virtually transported users to an airport to make the training more realistic.

The metaverse is poised to play an important role in distance learning in the future. A survey presented by Ipsos in May found that 66 percent of respondents expect metaverse-powered virtual learning applications to “will significantly change“people’s lives over the next ten years, a figure higher than those indicating that entertainment and virtual work would do the same.