Brussels police accused of illegal drone flights

The Brussels Capital/Ixelles police zone carried out 144 flights with surveillance drones operated by a private company in the spring of 2025, but what was presented as an experiment has since been deemed illegal by the Control Body for Police Information (COC).

The drones were operated by the Flemish private company Citymesh from April to June 2025 as part of a pilot project led by the police zone.

The decision to allow these flights was strongly criticised by, among others, the League for Human Rights, which challenged this authorisation before the Council of State.

Le Soir reports that the COC, which is responsible for ensuring that the police process people's data safely and legally, informed the police zone in October that this experimental project was considered illegal because police data could potentially be processed by a private company.

Police say the three-month test phase had already been completed when the COC's message was received.

During the 144 flights carried out during this period, "no data collection or processing" was carried out, according to the police.

The COC’s report, which has been forwarded to the Brussels public prosecutor’s office and to the interior and justice ministers, will soon be made public and will serve as a framework for other police zones, according to Le Soir.