crime
LKA boss brings facial recognition software into discussion
Lower Saxony’s LKA boss Friedo de Vries would like to see a political discussion about what instruments the police are allowed to use as part of digital development. photo
© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa
A few weeks ago, ex-RAF terrorist Daniela Klette was arrested – after a decades-long search. Would this have been faster with facial recognition software?
Lower Saxony’s LKA boss Friedo de Vries has called for the use of facial recognitionRethinking police software. “It is difficult to convey that software applications can be used by virtually anyone at home on the sofa, but that the police are not allowed to use them in the search for the most serious violent criminals,” he told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ).
The current reason for the debate is the arrest of the suspected ex-RAF terrorist Daniela Klette. The police – led by the LKA Lower Saxony – had been looking for her for decades and, according to their own statements, received a “tip from the population” in November 2023. Finally, Klette was caught in her apartment in Berlin-Kreuzberg at the end of February. An investigative Canadian journalist had already found older photos of Klette and her dance groups in Berlin during research in autumn 2023 using a facial recognition program on the Internet.
In connection with the Burdock investigation case, the police union (GdP) had called for more options for using facial recognition programs. “The fact that the police are not allowed to use such helpful software in the age of artificial intelligence, automation and digitalization” is no longer possible, criticized GdP chairman Jochen Kopelke. Such bans could also be to blame for Klette’s late arrest.
LKA boss de Vries emphasized that investigative authorities are not allowed to use facial recognition software. But that also shows: “We need a political discussion about what instruments the police can use as part of digital development.” Regarding the fact that the technology was not available to his RAF investigators, de Vries said: “That doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t diminish the success of the investigation by the LKA colleagues.”