Our analysis reports

Operational analysis reports

Operational intelligence analysis aims to achieve a specific law enforcement outcome such as an arrest, a seizure, the forfeiture of assets or criminal proceeds, and/or the disruption of a criminal enterprise.  Specifically, this analysis aims to identify:

• links between suspects;
• the specific role a person(s) of interest plays in criminal activities;
• investigative leads, and
• information gaps.

Our products based on such analysis include crosscheck reports, crime-specific alerts, suspect reports, investigative lead reports, media content notifications (e.g. social media), and the outcomes of operations that we coordinate.

Strategic analysis reports

Strategic intelligence analysis provides a broad assessment of a specific crime threat or trend, or of criminal behaviour in a particular environment.  We examine the different factors that have an impact on different types of crime. This allows us to assess how crimes may evolve in the near to mid-term future (i.e. escalate or deescalate.)    

Our strategic intelligence reports are intended for both police on the ground and their hierarchies.  They include threat and risk assessments (for a specific region, crime, or event), crime trend reports, environmental scanning reports, and early warning alerts.

INTERPOL’s 2023 Global Crime Report

INTERPOL’s 2023 Global Crime Report is an update to the first-ever volume released in 2022, which provided an analytical review of global data based on contributions by member countries.  The 2022 report showed how different forms of crime – particularly the illicit arms trade, drug trafficking and serious organized crime – had created symbiotic, interdependent criminal networks.

This trend has continued in 2023, but with increased levels of innovation, sophistication and complexity. In particular:

• An increase in the sophistication and lethality of terror attacks.
• Innovation in the production of synthetic drugs, reducing the cost and ease of production, which is leading to more competition in drug production and more deaths of drug users.
• A significant increase in the sophistication and volume of cyberattacks and cyber- enabled crimes, including child sexual abuse and financial fraud. The use of crimes-as-a-service is having a particular impact in their expansion.
• Increasingly complex organizational structures for criminal syndicates – which is leading to their fragmentation and complex, hard-to-detect business models relying on outsourcing, parallel supply chains and the convergence of different forms of crime, creating an interdependent criminal ecosystem.

The 2023 report, which is restricted to law enforcement, also identified eight crime areas with notable growth over the last twelve months, specifically:

• Serious Organized Crime
• Drug trafficking
• Cybercrime
• Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
• Financial fraud
• Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
• Environmental crime
• Terrorism

2022 INTERPOL Global Crime Trend Report

Society and citizens face serious threats from rapidly evolving criminal markets and networks. Access to timely criminal intelligence analysis therefore provides law enforcement officers with crucial support in crime investigations, and operations.

INTERPOL’s first Global Crime Trend Report 2022 (IGCTR) highlights current and emerging crime trends, which pose a significant threat to transnational security due to their scope, volume, frequency, and/or harmful impact.

To produce this report, we collected and assessed:

• Data from online Global Crime Trend Surveys, national crime statistics and reports as well as INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions;
• Research from academic institutions and think tanks;
• Information from our partners, notably from the information technology security industry.

The resulting analysis points to five broad crime areas, which dominate the global crime threat landscape.

• Organized crime – this was among the top ten crime trends most frequently perceived to pose a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ threat by all member countries;
• Illicit trafficking – drug trafficking, human trafficking and migrant smuggling;
• Financial crime – money laundering, financial fraud, and corruption as a critical crime-enabler;
• Cybercrime –  ransomware, hacking phishing, online scams and online child sexual exploitation and abuse;
• Terrorism – Jihadist terrorism, Islamic State-affiliate groups, the increase in extreme far-right terrorism, and the use of advanced technologies.

A summary of the Global Crime Trend Report is publicly available and can be downloaded in the Related Documents section below.

The full report is restricted to law enforcement use. To request a copy, law enforcement officials should contact the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in their country.