From Morse code in 1925 to a secure digital platform in 2002, INTERPOL has never stopped innovating on data exchange with our member countries. Cyril Gout, INTERPOL’s Acting Executive Director for Investigation Support, explains how our new platform, Nexus, is reshaping secure messaging in 2026 for an even sharper focus on core police priorities.
INTERPOL Spotlight: How does Nexus ensure effective international police communication?
Cyril Gout: Nexus is a major strategic innovation for law enforcement agencies worldwide. Our mission at INTERPOL is to connect and empower global law enforcement against crime and Nexus will play an essential role in that, as a secure communication platform that is fully aligned with policing needs in an era of constant change in both technology and criminal activity. That has been a key priority for INTERPOL throughout our 103-year history – from carrier pigeons or telegrams using Morse code and our own radio network, right through to the digital era and the 2002 launch of I-24/7. This first secure online system did not just change the way our member countries exchange messages, it changed international police cooperation altogether, allowing INTERPOL offices around the world to exchange hundreds of pieces of criminal data every day, receive real-time responses and directly contact the officers handling specific cases in just seconds.
But in 2026, with up to 20 million messages exchanged daily between 196 countries, we needed a new approach. We needed a system that was specifically developed for international law enforcement; Nexus is that system, with automated management of incoming information, automated responses to certain routine questions, the capacity to connect data on a given case or subject to similar existing messages or cross-check it immediately against INTERPOL databases – all via structured, standardized messages that ensure no information is missed. Above all, we needed to free up officers from manual tasks and allow them to focus on what really matters: fighting transnational organized crime.
INTERPOL Spotlight: Will the system continue to innovate over time?
Cyril Gout: Nexus has been designed to be scalable, and our teams are already installing additional artificial intelligence functionalities, with promising initial results. Technologies like natural language processing, optical character recognition, large language models and direct translation are all being evaluated and adapted. Embedding AI has the potential to boost Nexus’s communication, connection and information capacities even further. In the medium term, it will be possible to cross-check incoming information against INTERPOL’s systems. This would offer our member countries a single, highly secure window onto the millions of data recorded on our extensive databases, for even more rapid and effective investigations.
INTERPOL Spotlight: How will Nexus support INTERPOL and our member countries in enhancing global security?
Cyril Gout: It will allow our membership to focus first and foremost on critical information. Nexus puts the focus on operational messages and flags their level of urgency, tracking responses and issuing alerts. This means that the right officer receives the right information or query in real time and with a full history of all previous connected activity. The result is dynamic, targeted communication that brings with it significant time and efficiency gains in initiating or pursuing transnational investigations.
The feedback from the first national offices to implement Nexus has been very positive and they are now working with us to train and mentor many more that will go live in 2026. But Nexus does not stop with INTERPOL, at headquarters or in our member countries. The flexibility, security and robustness of the platform means that authorities in our member countries will be able to extend it to their national police force, customs authority, Financial Investigation Unit or anti-corruption agency, for example. We aim to have all of our 196 member countries on board by end 2027 and the result will be a powerful law enforcement network that will create unprecedented connections and crime-fighting potential on a global scale.