Member states receive almost 1,100 hits from the Schengen Information System every day. The number of people searched has risen by more than 50 per cent in four years. France, Germany and Italy are power users.
The Schengen Information System (SIS II) saw a further increase in entries and searches in 2024. According to the new annual report by the EU agency eu-LISA, authorities in the Schengen states searched the database over 41 million times a day – with almost 1,100 daily hits. The increase in searches for persons is particularly striking: in 2022, around 960,000 entries were registered; in 2024, this figure rose to almost 1.7 million.
The 29 current full members of the Schengen Agreement can use SIS II to enter persons and objects – including vehicles, boats, aeroplanes, weapons and documents – for manhunt purposes. Covert alerts are also possible. In this case, persons found during a police check are reported to an interested authority without the persons concerned being informed.
France, Germany and Italy are the main users
One reason for the huge increase in searches for persons is a new category: following a reform of Europe’s largest police database, third-country nationals against whom a deportation decision has been issued can also be recorded in the SIS II from 2023. These ‘return decisions’ now account for a third of all searches for persons.
Even more frequent are entries that have existed for quite some time on persons who are to be refused entry – they account for around 38 per cent of cases. This type of search occurs, for example, after the person has been deported from the Schengen area or banned from re-entering the country for other reasons.
Most entries in the SIS II come from France, which is responsible for almost a third of all data records, followed by Germany with 17 per cent and Italy with 12 per cent. The Netherlands leads the statistics for searches – it triggered more than a quarter of all searches.
More automated queries
Many searches of the database are carried out manually, for example during identity checks, and are transmitted by officers via radio, telephone, computer or biometric scanner.
However, automated searches, for example using licence plate scanners, now account for two thirds of all searches – continuing a trend from previous years. It is also known that the increasing introduction of passenger data systems is resulting in many automated searches.
Fingerprint comparisons also rose sharply – eu-LISA recorded an increase of two thirds compared to the previous year. This function has only been available in the SIS central system for a few years. Like DNA sequences, facial images or palm prints can be stored as an attachment to a person’s entry, but cannot be searched. They are used by the police to identify a person they have encountered.
Eleven per cent more hits
With the new SIS II, Europol and Frontex are also able to search the central SIS – currently they use it to a comparatively small extent. While the EU police agency carried out almost half a million searches in 2024 (well below the dwarf state of Liechtenstein), only around 700 were recorded for the border agency. Frontex uses the system for missions in Italy and Cyprus.
The number of successful hits on wanted persons rose by a total of eleven per cent to almost 400,000 cases in 2024. A quarter of these related to people who were to be deported – by far the largest category. In second place among the hits were searches for third-country nationals who were to be refused entry (73,067).
The EU agency eu-LISA therefore emphasises the growing importance of the Schengen Information System for border security and migration management. In total, the use of the system by border authorities resulted in 948 actual deportations.
Image: New passport control centre at Frankfurt Airport (Wikipedia)
