Backlash against Brussels police drone experiment

A pilot project from the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone involving mobile cameras on drones during interventions has come under fire for being "not much different from what China is doing in terms of government surveillance".

The League of Human Rights expressed concerns about the experiment in a letter to the municipal authorities of Brussels-City and Ixelles, Bruzz reports.

“The objectives of the project are too broad, and clearly do not take into account the principles of necessity, proportionality and subsidiarity (using the least intrusive means possible) to protect the public when interfering in private life,” the letter said.

The League called for the proposal to be rejected.

Privacy expert Matthias Dobbelaere-Welvaert said the pilot project was clearly at odds with privacy legislation, especially in that police themselves will not control the drones, but are outsourcing the work to West Flemish telecom operator Citymesh, a private company.

“In operations, you always have to look for the least intrusive method for privacy – that does not seem to be the case here, with a private party controlling the drones,” said Dobbelaere-Welvaert.

While Dobbelaere-Welvaert said it was normal for a modern police force to use cameras, and that drones are already regularly deployed for specific tasks, such as demonstrations, the current pilot project is different.

“As the test phase is currently described, you can keep a drone in the air permanently – that’s much more invasive than a normal ANPR [automatic number-plate recognition] camera,” Dobbelaere-Welvaert said.

“You’ll have a lot of private gardens in view while filming. And then the images are kept for a year, which is not much different from what China is doing in terms of government surveillance.”

The project has already been launched since 15 April and will continue to 30 October. Police say use of the camera drones is permitted to "prevent offences or improprieties on public roads, maintain public order and investigate crimes and offences".

They argue that the aim is to improve the traceability and reporting of police interventions, increase the safety of police officers and reduce the number of violent incidents and unfounded complaints against staff.

Citymesh, the private company which operates the drone, will reportedly not have access to the recorded images. The images filmed by the drone will be stored for a maximum of 365 days and, after the first 30 days, access will be restricted to criminal investigations.

An impact and risk analysis of the pilot project will be conducted in the autumn to assess privacy protection and operational aspects.