The National Police wants to start using the automatic recognition system for all faces of Spain in October 2021. Security forces have been researching the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for some time, and they say that the system they want to put in place will be the "weapon" of the future. The violations that identification tools have produced in the privacy and fundamental rights of the population make it a source of controversy.

The Commissioner of Scientific Police, Pedro Luis Mélida, explained this Tuesday the proposal in the summer courses of the Complutense University of Madrid. Mélida has been optimistic about the new tools that the security forces have tried so far and has underlined the role they will play in the future: “Facial recognition systems have come to stop,” they have great potential, like everything related to artificial intelligence, and that’s why I think we’re talking about a new police weapon.” If they get "the adoption of the law," in October they want to start using the new system.

However, the National Police has been working with Ai for a long time. The Commissioner explained that security forces use photographs as a database that are distributed on social networks on a continuous and universal basis. These images serve to contrast them with the faces of the people they are looking for. Security cameras also use captured images and are in contact with companies operating these technologies to improve the quality of recordings.

Privacy violations

The systems used to identify faces harm privacy and intimacy, so the use of this type of technology usually provokes controversy. Consequently, there has been a great deal of controversy in deciding whether security forces should have permission to use these tools.

Mélida has explained that, in some cases, there would be limitations in obtaining mass images, for example. However, the Commissioner pointed out that this is a technology used in other European countries: It was established in Germany in 2008 and has been used in France since 2013. In addition, the Naiz media explained that the European Union will use from 2022 a database with fingerprints and facial photographs of over 400 million people.