INTERPOL's communications strategy prioritises restraint and consistency in a polarised world

As organisations race to respond to every viral moment, cultural flashpoint and misinformation crisis, INTERPOL is advocating a markedly different communications philosophy: say less, stay focused and never lose sight of your mission.

Speaking at the opening fireside chat of PR Asia Singapore 2026, Samuel Heath (pictured), director of communications at INTERPOL, argued that while the communications function has evolved far beyond reputation management, its greatest challenge today is resisting distractions. Instead of weighing in on every issue, organisations should prioritise consistency, clarity and measurable impact.

“When I started many years ago in communications, it was a function of marketing in some senses, and it was a reputation protection industry,” he said.

“Those things still exist, but today - particularly in an international organisation - it’s much more about geopolitics. It’s about understanding fast-moving issues such as misinformation and data use, and how you position your organisation in response to them. If you’re not comfortable with that, you’re going to have a really difficult couple of years because that’s where communications is heading.”

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Staying inside the mission

Unlike many organisations that increasingly weigh in on broader societal conversations, INTERPOL deliberately limits its communications to its mandate of facilitating international police cooperation.

That discipline is rooted in the organisation’s constitution, which prohibits involvement in political, military, religious or racial matters.

According to Heath, that restriction has become an advantage rather than a limitation.

“I don’t need to be talking about the hot-button issue that everyone’s debating,” he emphasised. 

Instead, every communication is evaluated against one question: does it support the organisation’s core purpose of connecting police forces across borders?

Heath added that organisations often create communications risks by expanding into topics unrelated to their core mission.

“The idea of focusing on what you do, who you are, your brand and your area of expertise is just so important in this really complicated world. If you keep it simple, you’re much less likely to get into trouble.”

Fighting misinformation through consistency - not speed

While misinformation remains one of the defining communications challenges today, Heath suggested that responding faster is not always the answer.

Instead, INTERPOL’s approach relies on consistency, predictability and avoiding unnecessary gambles.

He described situations involving politically sensitive red notice requests, where whichever decision INTERPOL makes inevitably attracts criticism from opposing sides.

“We’re in a situation where we cannot possibly win,” he said.

Rather than attempting to satisfy every audience, INTERPOL focuses on ensuring trusted international media receive accurate information while maintaining identical standards across all countries. Consistency, he argued, matters just as much as channel selection.

“I am a huge fan of news wires. I think they’re such an effective way to communicate and reach your audience.”

Heath also warned against communications teams taking unnecessary reputational risks simply because an idea might generate attention.

“The idea is just kind of keeping things boring. We do things sensibly,” he said.

“Don’t take those 50-50 chances... Keep it simple. Make sure you do things well and just go for the most sensible option.”

AI is changing crime faster than communications

Although AI-generated misinformation is becoming a communications concern, Heath believes its biggest impact lies elsewhere.

“The biggest problem is not around communications. The biggest problem is about crime.”

He said organised crime groups have rapidly modernised in recent years, adopting technologies and operating models typically associated with legitimate businesses.

“They’re outsourcing. They’re subcontracting. They’re doing all the sorts of things that business leaders do, but with a criminal approach.”

AI is also expanding the reach of scams into countries previously protected by language barriers.

“AI has completely changed that,” he said, explaining that countries with less widely spoken languages are increasingly becoming targets because translation technologies are reducing those barriers.

Rather than focusing on public messaging, INTERPOL’s communications function supports law enforcement agencies by helping prepare them for emerging threats and improving communications between police organisations globally.

Data has become communications’ strongest business case

For Heath, the communications function will only continue gaining influence inside organisations if practitioners can demonstrate measurable impact.

He urged communicators to adopt the same evidence-based mindset long associated with marketing.

“Data. It’s about data.”

Reflecting on recruitment applications for communications roles at INTERPOL, Heath said too many candidates still fail to demonstrate measurable outcomes.

Communicators, he argued, need to prove how their work changes audience behaviour rather than simply telling compelling stories.

“We need to show the impact we’ve made, whatever product we’re trying to push. How do we reach our audiences? How do we get them to change their minds?”

Without that evidence, he said, communications leaders will struggle to secure a place in senior leadership discussions.

For INTERPOL, those metrics are deliberately narrow. Rather than tracking public awareness, the communications team measures whether senior police leaders, government officials and policymakers are making greater use of the organisation’s international policing capabilities.

“Our metrics really are around an audience that is tiny for an international organisation,” Heath said.

“We’re here because of that audience to make them do things differently, and that’s the measuring point.”

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