Police in the Metaverse? Interpol Urges Law Enforcement to Embrace VR Tech

It may be tempting to dismiss the metaverse as a fad that’ll die out. But international law enforcement agencies are already looking at how to police the emerging virtual reality world. 

Interpol, which facilitates worldwide police cooperation, is already trying to embrace the metaverse. On Thursday, the organization unveiled(Opens in a new window) the “the first ever metaverse specifically designed for law enforcement worldwide.”

The project has essentially recreated Interpol’s headquarters in France in virtual reality. Wearing VR headsets, Interpol officers can interact with each other through avatars and also take training courses focused on forensic investigation and other policing tasks, such as border control. 

Interpol showed off the project during a summit in New Delhi, India, where the organization also announced it had created an “Expert Group on the metaverse” to help law enforcement voice its concerns about the technology to the public. 

As the metaverse develops, Interpol is worried lawbreakers, scammers, and terrorists will also migrate to VR worlds to perpetrate crimes including targeting minors, data theft, financial fraud, phishing, and sexual assault and harassment, among others. 

“By identifying these risks from the outset, we can work with stakeholders to shape the necessary governance frameworks and cut off future criminal markets before they are fully formed,” says Madan Oberoi, Interpol’s executive director of technology and innovation.

“But in order for police to understand the metaverse, we need to experience it,” Oberoi added.

(Credit: Interpol)

On Friday, Europol also released a 29-page document(Opens in a new window) called “Policing in the metaverse: what law enforcement needs to know,” which tries to anticipate how the technology could fuel future crimes. It points out the potential for cybercriminals to hijack or replicate a user’s 3D avatars, which could become especially problematic if those avatars become photorealistic. 

“That information will allow criminals to even more convincingly impersonate and steal someone’s identity. Moreover, this information may be used to manipulate users in a far more nuanced, but far more effective way than is possible at present on the internet,” Europol writes. 

The agency is also concerned about child sexual abuse offenders using the VR technology to interact with minors. “In the metaverse offenders may be able to carry out the entire grooming process without such barriers. It will be very difficult for children to distinguish adults from other children since it would be difficult to know, especially for children, who they are talking with,” Europol added. 

Hence, Europol is urging policing agencies to monitor the development of the technology and asking officers to build experience policing in “early iterations of the metaverse,” such as the multiplayer shooter Fortnite and game streaming and social media platforms. “It is essential for law enforcement to be accurately informed to meaningfully engage with companies, civil society and lawmakers,” the document adds.