Croatia on Friday marked the 30th anniversary of its membership in Interpol, the international police association. In order to mark the occasion, the local police directorate reported that Croatia is the fourth country in the world in terms of queries of Interpol databases, state agency Hina said, carrying an interior ministry press release.

Commenting on the 30th anniversary of this membership, Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic, said on Friday that in 2021 Croatia had conducted 197,319,513 searches in Interpol databases, which ranks Croatia second among European members of Interpol and fourth in the global rankings.

Hina did not say which country topped the list.

“Since Croatia is a European Union member country with the longest EU external border, we can say that Croatia, with Interpol’s assistance, is a key security actor in the protection of the EU external border,” Bozinovic was quoted as saying.

He added that so far in 2022, Croatia has made 127 million searches of the 19 Interpol databases.

Hina quoted Interpol’s website which describes the organization’s mission as “enabling police in our 195 member countries to work together to fight transnational crime and make the world a safer place.”

“We maintain global databases containing police information on criminals and crime and we provide operational and forensic support, analysis services and training. These policing capabilities are delivered worldwide and support three global programs: counter-terrorism, cyber-crime, and organized and emerging crime.”