While the canton of Friborg wanted to equip its police with new surveillance cameras, a recent judgment from the Federal Court has just dampened its ambitions. The Friborg authorities must finally backtrack, RTS has learned.
In a bill that it was preparing to present to the Grand Council, the Friborg Council of State wanted to provide the cantonal police with new equipment dedicated to the surveillance of public spaces.
But a ruling from the Federal Court has just canceled several measures that the canton of Lucerne had taken in 2022 to strengthen the means of monitoring its police.
This decision has direct repercussions on the canton of Fribourg, which was currently working on an overhaul of its legislation with an ambition similar to that of the canton of Lucerne.
A measure that goes “too far”
The two cantons wanted, among other things, to allow their police to use an automated license plate reading system with the possibility of storing this data and exchanging it with the other cantons.
This device can be installed on main roads and makes it possible to check whether suspect vehicles resulting from a criminal investigation have taken this road, indicating where applicable the direction and time of passage. Attached to a patrol vehicle, it can also report live if a license plate of a vehicle encountered on the way is reported in a police database.
Any surveillance in public space is a serious attack on the private sphere and the right to informational self-determination
According to the Federal Court, this measure goes “too far”. The High Court specifies that the cantons do not have the competence to legislate on this question. “Surveillance measures for the purposes of criminal prosecution require a legal basis in the Swiss code of criminal procedure,” writes the Federal Court.
“Any surveillance in public space is a serious attack on the private sphere and the right to informational self-determination. This would require processing the information of a large number of people for whom we have no reason to process the data”, explains Sylvain Métille, lawyer and specialist in data protection.
“An archaic system”
For Romain Collaud, Friborg PLR State Councilor in charge of security, we must now “step up the pace” at the federal level in order to modify the criminal procedure code. He considers it necessary to implement automatic plate reading, while modifying the legal bases for data exchange between the cantons.
>> The interview with Romain Collaud, Friborg PLR state councilor in charge of security:
“Of course we need to move forward. Today, our system is a little archaic. I don’t want to say that we are the laughing stock of Europe when it comes to data exchange issues. But you should know that it is easier to obtain data from a foreign criminal than data between two cantons,” regrets Romain Collaud.
This judgment marks the end of the Friborg project, but could also have repercussions in other cantons which are currently analyzing the decision of the Federal Court in detail. This judgment will also have effects on the work currently carried out with the aim of improving the exchange of police data between cantons.
>> Rewatch the big debate on surveillance cameras in Forum: The big debate – Cameras in municipalities: are we all under surveillance?
Radio Sujet: Mehdi Piccand
Web adaptation: Raphaël Dubois
