On suspicion of the use of Facial Recognition Technology by the Ministry of Interior during the protests held on November 27 and December 4 last year, and in connection with misdemeanor warrants issued to protesters, The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection conducted a supervision procedure against the Ministry of the Interior.
The supervision procedure was conducted by the Commissioner on January 13, 2022. at the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, as well as in the Belgrade Police Administration, during which the authorized persons of the Commissioner took statements from the representatives of the Ministry of Interior and made a report, with insight into the necessary documentation.
Regarding the use of devices used for recording at these protests, whose recordings appeared on social networks, the supervision procedure determined that they were HUAWEI EP 821 devices. According to the Ministry of Interior, these devices do not have hardware or software support that would enable the functionality of face recognition, ie processing of biometric data. These devices are the latest generation radio station, which operates within the 4G network on the ANDROID platform, have an integrated video camera, the possibility of "voice" communication, exchange of multimedia content, and geopositioning. ;According to the Ministry of Interior, HUAWEI EP821 devices are used only by police officers in the city of Belgrade, while other police departments use Motorola-type radio stations, except in Novi Sad, where the introduction of this advanced radio communication system is being prepared, with a couple of HUAWEI devices in a test environment. The use of the devices in question is regulated by the Rulebook on Methodology of Work and Manner of Data Access and Protection of the National TETRA System, Mobile Radio Communications System, and Critical Infrastructure ("Official Gazette of RS", No. 55/19). The recording that was performed with these devices during the protest was performed following Article 52 of the Law on Police, which prescribes recording in public places, as one of the Police measures and actions, which the public was informed about, under the Rulebook on the manner of recording in a public place and the manner of announcing that recording.
In the supervision procedure in the Belgrade Police Administration, the Commissioner's authorized persons determined that misdemeanor warrants and requests for initiating a misdemeanor procedure from the Law on Road Traffic Safety, but only against the participants in the protest who were identified by inspecting the personal document, which was also determined by random inspection of the cases formed on this occasion. Until the day of supervision, it was determined that a total of 15 (fifteen) misdemeanor warrants were issued in Belgrade on this occasion for December 27, 2021, and 114 (one hundred and fourteen) for December 4, 2021. The total number of requests for initiating misdemeanor proceedings was 75 (seventy-five) for November 27, 2021, and 136 (one hundred and thirty-six) for December 4, 2021. Based on the statistical report from the records of the Ministry of Interior, it was determined that in all other police administrations in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, a total of 249 (two hundred and forty-nine) misdemeanor warrants were issued on December 27, 2021, and 1,404 (one thousand four hundred and four) for December 4, 2021, while there were no requests to initiate misdemeanor proceedings.
Based on misdemeanor warrants issued outside Belgrade on this occasion, which were made available on the Internet, it can be stated that the same persons were identified on the basis of direct observation of police officers, in accordance with the Law on Misdemeanors.
Taking into account all the facts, the Commissioner did not establish that Facial Recognition Technology was used by the police during the mentioned events.
The Commissioner reminds that there is no legal basis for the use of this technology by the police, and that for its eventual introduction it is necessary to provide a complete legal framework, make an impact assessment on personal data protection, and take adequate organizational, technical and personnel protection measures.
