French police use of real-time facial recognition comes under scrutiny

Police in France are reportedly photographing individuals with police-issued mobile devices and using facial recognition developed by the German company Cognitec to match their faces against a criminal records database called TAJ, according to an investigation by non-profit media outlet Disclose.​

The practice is occurring outside the legal framework, as using facial recognition to cross-check against the TAJ during identity checks is not allowed: The French Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits “real-time” checks against the TAJ, as the database can only be used by specially authorized officers during an investigation, according to the report.​

The investigation was published last week in partnership with La Quadrature du Net, a digital rights organization that is seeking a complete ban on police use of facial recognition.​

TAJ (Traitements des Antécédents Judiciaires) contains 17 million records on arrested and accused individuals and 48 million records on victims, as well as data on everyone who has been implicated in an investigation. The database, operated by the French Ministry of the Interior, holds 9 million frontal portraits.​

Using the TAJ outside of authorized procedures is punishable by a prison sentence and a fine of up to 300,000 euros (US$348,250). Despite these rules, the database was “very frequently used on public streets during identity checks,” according to a 2023 report from the General Inspection of the National Police (IGPN).​

While the TAJ had 375,000 queries in 2019, by 2024 it rose to nearly 1 million. The number of illegal uses of the database cannot be ascertained, the report notes.

Facial matching software became available on police devices in January 2022. The devices are called NEO, or “New Operational Equipment” (nouvel équipement opérationnel), and are issued to all police officers and gendarmes.​

Disclose also spoke to six individuals in Paris, Marseille and Lyon who were photographed by the police in the last four years, in some cases without consent. While some had their faces scanned on the street, others went through identity checks during evictions and even protests. One of the individuals who was scanned was stopped during a protest in support of Palestine in Paris.​

The investigative outlet was behind the 2023 revelation that the French national police may have unlawfully used BriefCam facial recognition for eight years.

Gendarmerie pushes back against TAJ investigation

Citing the report, La Quadrature du Net said that French police have been using facial recognition illegally under state supervision. The advocacy group has previously filed a lawsuit against police use of facial recognition, including the use of databases such as TAJ, which was ultimately rejected.​

“There is no legislation that stipulates how facial recognition can be used, by whom, in what situations, or with what oversight,” the organization notes. “By equipping thousands of police officers and gendarmes with these tools, the Ministry of the Interior has therefore knowingly orchestrated abusive and illegal surveillance.”​

Members of the gendarmerie, however, have pushed back against this portrayal and claim that the TAJ database is subject to close monitoring.​

The facial recognition matching system connected to the TAJ database has been available as a desktop version since 2022 and was only made available on NEO smartphones in 2025, according to an editorial in L’Essor de la Gendarmerie, a newspaper focusing on gendarmes.​

The use of the tool is indeed limited to criminal investigations, identity checks and intelligence gathering. But instead of “mass surveillance,” the purpose is to serve as an “investigative aid” by helping identify people, particularly when a face appears in an investigation, the article notes.​

An internal memo on expanding access to the TAJ for the gendarmerie specifies that “the photos suggested by the facial recognition tool must be carefully reviewed by users,” while “the results obtained may help guide investigations, but must not be considered as evidence.”

The second application of this technology is to check individuals who do not have identification on hand at that moment or who refuse to present it. Identity verification can be conducted on-site or at police or gendarmerie stations.​

“According to our information, facial recognition is accessible only to judicially authorized officers. Volunteer deputy gendarmes and reservists, for example, do not have access to it,” says the editorial.

The TAJ database is also monitored by the French national data protection authority CNIL. In December 2025, the Gendarmerie implemented a tool for internal monitoring called Citar, which reduces illicit access to files, it adds.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  Cognitec  |  facial recognition  |  France  |  law enforcement  |  real-time biometrics