Belgium (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Belgian police can use facial recognition software under strict legal conditions, primarily for investigations. While some organizations use Briefcam for video analysis, concerns persist about its growing usage and lack of parliamentary discussion.
The COC in Belgium ensures that the police follow the rules about privacy and cameras. The chair, Frank Schuermans, said they can use facial recognition software in certain situations. Schuermans emphasized that using facial recognition software depends on a legal investigation. Schuermans said that it’s not good for the police to record all people arriving at Brussels Airport Zaventem and use facial recognition on them. Professor Paul De Hert also said that the police can’t search the internet for any picture to compare it with a suspect’s photo.
Are Belgian Police Using Facial Recognition Software Legally?
Some Belgian police are using software from an Israeli company called Briefcam to do facial recognition the right way. The police in Ghent and Aalst stated that they utilize Briefcam software to analyze camera footage. The software is used not to recognize faces but to analyze the appearance of a suspect from the outside.
The police use Briefcam to quickly check hours of camera footage for a suspect wearing a red hoodie. Without it, they would spend hours reviewing the footage themselves each time. Antwerp police didn’t want to discuss using Briefcam because they thought it might hurt their future detective work. On the other hand, Leuven and Bruges police said they don’t use Briefcam software. Professor Paul De Hert from VUB is concerned that the police utilize facial recognition software more frequently. He says there hasn’t been good talk about it in our country’s parliament yet. The EU is also not happy about how it’s being used.
