FB pixel

European Commission suggests adding facial recognition to EU-wide police database

European Commission suggests adding facial recognition to EU-wide police database
 

The European Commission has put forward plans for EU police to work together more efficiently in order to fight criminal networks that are operating on an increasingly transnational level. Increased facial recognition data-sharing is included in the proposal.

The proposal is based on the premise that the pandemic has exposed various loopholes in cross-border police cooperation, which Brussels aims to patch by suggesting the addition of facial images and shared law enforcement records to an EU-wide police biometrics database.

According to Europol’s 2021 EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment, roughly 65 percent of criminal networks active in the EU are composed of members of multiple nationalities, and 80 percent of those are involved in cross-border crimes.

The new proposal and inclusion of facial recognition data targets these networks and crimes, and particularly smugglers of drugs, and people across the EU.

Other changes would include granting police the ability to continue their duties over state borders, such as to make an arrest in a cross-border chase, EUobserver reports.

Information exchange will be key to the new system, the Commission explained, with the establishment of a central ‘router’ coordinating the multiple, national ones. Aware of the potential privacy implication of such a proposal, the European Commission clarified the central router will simply act as a message broker, with member states retaining control and ownership over their data.

Despite the reassurance, however, European Digital Rights (EDRi) called the proposal ‘worrying,’ explaining that the Commission has thus far failed to provide sufficient evidence of the necessity and proportionality of the existing Prüm Decisions.

For context, the original Prüm framework regulates the exchange of DNA, fingerprint biometric, and vehicle registration data between EU police authorities.

According to EDRi, the additional automation suggested by the proposal would explicitly remove procedural and judicial safeguards that exist to make sure that sensitive data are only shared with police in other countries when there is a legitimate reason to do so.

The proposal would also enhance the role of Europol, including handling sensitive biometric data of suspects from outside the EU in its scope without clear protections. 

It may also amplify the discriminatory impacts that law enforcement databases already have on racialized and marginalized communities, EDRi wrote.

Finally, the non-profit said that Prüm II may incentivize the Member States that have thus far chosen not to conduct mass facial recognition against their communities to now start deploying surveillance infrastructure and databases.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

AVPA laud findings from age assurance tech trial

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), and several of its members, have welcomed the publication of preliminary findings from the…

 

Sri Lanka to launch govt API policies and guidelines

Sri Lanka’s government, in the wake of its digital economy drive, is gearing up to release application programming interface (API)…

 

Netherlands’ asylum seeker ID cards from Idemia use vertical ICAO format

The Netherlands will introduce new identity documents for asylum seekers Idemia Smart Identity, compliant with the ICAO specification for vertical…

 

Zenoo integrates Trinsic, Sumsub for advanced digital ID onboarding options

Onboarding and compliance orchestration engine provider Zenoo has formed a pair of partnerships to give its customers a broader range…

 

Swiss digital ID backed by major political parties ahead of autumn referendum

Switzerland’s planned national digital identity has received support from a broad parliamentary alliance that includes representatives from almost all the…

 

Lufthansa, BigBear.ai and HID fly the future of digital transformation

The Lufthansa Group app is paving the way for air travel with new features and digital functionalities that interface with…

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Biometric Market Analysis

Most Viewed This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events