- LKA chief wants a debate on facial recognition software
Lower Saxony's LKA chief Friedo de Vries is set to initiate a debate on the use of facial recognition software in policing. The goal, he told NDR, is to more effectively track down criminals. "I'd like us to be able to generate leads using facial recognition methods. That means searching the net for possible whereabouts and connections," he said, referring to suspects facing more than a year in prison.
De Vries said the State Criminal Office aims to develop its own artificial intelligence for facial recognition, avoiding controversial private sector offerings whose issues include lack of transparency about where data is stored and what images the programs were trained on.
Currently, there's no legal basis
The discussion was sparked by the arrest of suspected former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette. Police, led by Lower Saxony's LKA, had been searching for her for decades before she was finally apprehended in her Berlin-Kreuzberg apartment in late February. An investigative Canadian journalist had already found older photos of Klette using a facial recognition program on the internet as early as autumn 2023.
Such photos are valuable leads, de Vries told NDR. However, according to the LKA's legal interpretation, investigators currently cannot use facial recognition software to search for them because there's no legal basis.
Behrens open to discussion
According to NDR, the Ministry of Justice is examining what legal changes would be necessary. Lower Saxony's interior minister, Daniela Behrens, told the broadcaster that she is fundamentally open to the discussion. However, the SPD politician emphasized: "The police in Lower Saxony has no interest in randomly and comprehensively scanning the internet and online networks for faces, thereby scanning millions of innocent citizens."
De Vries expressed the need to utilize facial recognition methods for lead generation, implying that they would search the internet for potential locations and connections of suspects with prolonged incarceration periods. In response to the legal limitations, Behrens acknowledged her openness to the discussion about necessary legal changes, stressing that the Lower Saxony police have no intention of indiscriminately scanning the internet for faces.
