OPINION: The fictional assignments and adventures of James Bond sparked a lifelong interest in the workings of the real-life security and intelligence services for strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda; but a closer look at what it would mean to be ‘007’ today highlights that a changing threat landscape, the advances of technology, and the importance of accountability make for a very different role and world than has ever been occupied by Ian Fleming’s hero.

ANALYSIS: With nearly 50 million people estimated to be in modern slavery, and global money laundering flows reaching up to $2 trillion a year, the connection between human trafficking and financial crime has never been more consequential for international policing; strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda examines how Interpol co-ordinates measurable responses across 196 member states – despite resource gaps, the political misuse of some tools, and persistent corruption continuing to constrain what it can achieve.

OPINION: The ongoing legal proceedings against Queensland Police Service by an Indian Uber driver is the latest case to highlight a culture of racism and lack of accountability in this and other Australian forces, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda, who argues that for policing in the country to earn the trust of the communities it serves – including growing and diverse migrant and Indigenous communities – “the cycle of incident, apology and impunity must be broken”.

OPINION: Youth offending in Victoria is rising, burglary is at record levels, and retail theft is the fastest-growing crime category, yet the prevailing response remains largely reactive; evidence from Victoria’s own prevention programs shows that upstream investment in youth justice produces measurable reductions in offending, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda – the harder question is whether the structural conditions exist to deliver it at scale.

OPINION: A decade after forced marriage was first criminalised and more than 30 years after state-level hate crime legislation was introduced, rates of prosecution in Australia remain low compared to the UK; strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda explores the differences in approach between the two jurisdictions, and suggests four steps Australia could take to improve outcomes for victim-survivors of both offences.

OPINION: Victoria Police is making more arrests than at any point in its recorded history; but strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda argues that, as the force is also experiencing record rates of officer burnout, a documented accountability deficit at command level, and a systematic misidentification problem in family violence proceedings, all the evidence points toward the need for a comprehensive reform agenda spanning all three of these interconnected issues.

OPINION: As transnational criminal networks grow in complexity and reach, the Australian Border Force is evolving from a traditional customs and immigration agency into a sophisticated intelligence-led law enforcement organisation; the results are already visible, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda, but the challenges ahead are formidable – and some of the most significant are not operational at all.

OPINION: New bail laws introduced in Victoria this summer aim to tackle repeat high-harm offending with a new ‘high-harm test’ and tougher rules on offences committed while on bail; but Kavitha Vipulananda, author, speaker and reform consultant, highlights Law Institute of Victoria concerns around disproportionality stemming from the new legislation, and urges the state Government to focus more on wraparound services and rehabilitation or risk repeating past failures.

OPINION: With research indicating that at least 12% of female respondents in intimate partner violence cases in Victoria are misidentified as perpetrators – and some organisations suggesting the figure, particularly for indigenous and migrant women, could be as high as 50% – Kavitha Vipulananda, author, speaker and reform consultant, sets out a range of reforms for police in Victoria and agencies more widely across Australia that could address the injustices based in systemic issues that are faced by vulnerable women.