Why is AI facial recognition a debated issue for the Swiss police?

Private people may already use AI face-recognition tools, while the police currently may not. Their powers are more restricted than those of private people. Using AI tools is to be anchored in federal law under certain conditions, and several political motions to allow it are pending.

The trigger was a case in Bern: after riots at a demonstration, the cantonal police published unblurred photos and videos of 31 suspects in a public search. Private individuals then uploaded the images to AI face-recognition tools and posted the results on social media. The police themselves were not allowed to do that.

This turns the usual picture around. Normally the police have more powers than private citizens (force, arrest). Here they have fewer, because a state measure needs a clear legal basis (see the legal-basis card), and none exists yet for AI facial recognition. Private use, meanwhile, happens without the checks that would apply to the police. The debate is therefore about whether to give the police the tool under legal conditions, rather than leaving it to private people with none.

Go deeper:

• SRF: AI facial recognition, the future helper of the police? — the Bern case and the political debate (German).
• Wikipedia: Facial recognition system — how it works and how law enforcement uses it.