Mark Finnane is a Professor of History at Griffith University and an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow. As an historian he has a particular interest in the history of policing, criminal justice and responses to violence. His most recent book is JV Barry: A Life (UNSW Press, 2007).

In his own research Mark is currently focussing on the history of ‘security policing’ in Australia from the First World War to the present. Using both archival and published sources, the project is investigating inter-agency communication, co-operation and conflict, strategic and tactical responses to security threats, and frameworks of accountability and oversight of security policing.