The number of queries and stored images in the BKA facial recognition system continues to increase. An upgrade with an error rate close to zero makes 50 photo experts lose that job. Only the EU AI regulation stands in the way.
German police are using the Federal Criminal Police Office’s (BKA) facial recognition system (GES) for an increasing number of queries. In 2023, a total of 117,894 searches were conducted via the platform, with 74,803 by the State Criminal Police Offices, 26,187 by the BKA, and 16,904 by the Federal Police. This represents a significant increase compared to 2022, when a total of 91,767 queries were made.
The statistics were already known from the response to a parlamentarian question in the Bundestag. Upon further inquiry by netzpolitik.org, a BKA spokesperson also differentiated the search runs for the individual authorities: According to this, State Criminal Police Offices conducted 74,803 queries in 2023, the BKA 26,187. The Federal Police accounted for 16,904 queries, more than doubling compared to the previous year.
The BKA explains the increase in conducted searches by saying that “awareness of facial recognition as a tool is increasing” among police authorities. However, the number of identified persons only increased slightly: In 2023, a total of 3,796 persons were located or verified using facial recognition, compared to 3,599 in 2022. As in previous years, the Federal Police achieved the most positive hits (2,113), followed by the State Criminal Police Offices (1,674) and the BKA (9).
Database with portrait photos continues to grow
The GES, which has so far functioned exclusively retroactively, has been available to all German police authorities since 2008. It is intended to help solve crimes or verify the identity of asylum seekers. In addition to photos from police identification procedures, cell phone photos or recordings from video cameras in public spaces can also be used for queries.
The queried biometric data is stored in the INPOL file. This largest German police database is also centrally managed by the BKA for all connected authorities. The number of facial images stored there also increased significantly again in 2023. As of March 8, 2024, a total of 7,293,861 photos of 5,099,635 persons were stored in INPOL – an increase of about ten percent compared to the previous year.
Of the stored images, 3,061,861 come from “non-police sources,” the BKA explains. A large portion of these are likely to be asylum applications.
Error rate already below one percent
In 2014, the error rate of the GES was about 30 percent; today it is said to have dropped to below one percent. This was reported by a BKA employee at the autumn conference of the Wiesbaden federal authority in November.
In the coming years, the system is then supposed to make no errors at all: In September 2024, the BKA introduced a renewed GES based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which BKA chief Holger Münch describes as one of the most powerful worldwide. It is supposed to enable precise identifications even under difficult conditions such as poor lighting, difficult viewing angles, and age differences of up to 30 years.
“Further automation measures” announced
Münch shared further details about the new GES under the motto “How we ride the wave”. According to this, the hit accuracy for so-called 1:n searches is so high that a subsequent manual comparison by photo experts would actually be superfluous.
This human final check is to continue only due to requirements of the AI regulation enacted by the EU, as BKA President Münch emphasized. “Due to legal requirements, however, employees will have to continue to perform tasks manually,” the BKA expert’s presentation also states.
Nevertheless, numerous positions are being cut in the verification department. At the autumn conference, a BKA employee spoke of 15 employees already “released”, and by the end of 2026, this number is expected to reach 50 people. Subsequently, “further automation measures” are planned. According to Münch, a “personnel project” was launched for this process to accompany the change in the facial recognition department and create new, more demanding activities for the obsolete employees.
Münch wants to further “unleash” system
The BKA chief describes the introduction of AI-supported biometric methods as “creativity” that needs to be “further unleashed”. Münch refers to the case of Daniela Klette, who was arrested as an alleged RAF terrorist. An investigative journalist had discovered a trace of Klette by comparing old wanted photos of her with photos in social networks using the private provider PimEyes. In this way, the podcaster uncovered “authority deficits” of the police, according to Münch.
German police should now also receive the possibility to search the internet with facial images; for this purpose, the Bundestag is to pass the so-called “security package”. The Bundesrat had initially rejected a first attempt, but now the law is expected to be capable of gaining approval in the 16 federal states as well.
Image: BKA.
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