Question 15003 — fundamental rights

Summary

Ms. Andrée Taurinya alerts the Minister of the Interior to the use of facial recognition software installed on the service phones of police officers. In a detailed investigation published on March 16, 2026, the investigative journal Disclose reveals the illicit use of facial recognition deployed on a large scale via Neo telephone devices available to agents of the national police. These tools would be used for the purposes of identifying people with a view to searching for a match with the criminal record processing file (TAJ) by taking a photograph under the constraint of an identity check. Reconciliation by photograph is available on tablets and smartphones available to agents according to a ministerial instruction dated February 2022. Consultation of this The file is, however, strictly regulated by the code of criminal procedure which recalls that only “individually designated and specially authorized” agents have access to it, particularly in the context of an investigation. The TAJ cannot be consulted during a real-time check. However, we can read numerous testimonies attesting to illicit use of this device having taken place in the street in Marseille, Paris and Lyon between 2021 and 2025 during simple identity checks, the evacuation of squats or on the sidelines of a demonstration. A demonstrator describes the context of use of these devices in the Disclose investigation: “The policeman takes out something that looks like a telephone, a black pad, and he tries to take a picture of me [...] I didn't find it normal, so I turned my head, I grimaced to avoid being taken in a photo [...]. The policeman has asked two of his colleagues to hold me. I felt their gloved hands on my face. They forced me to face the camera [...] A few moments after taking the photo, the agent stated his name, his first name, but also the reason for a previous custody. Other testimonies from officials report connection to the TAJ facial recognition system without any authorization from an account assigned to the exit police academy. These facts are documented by the IGPN activity report for the year 2023 which attests to the use of the TAJ very frequently used on public roads during identity checks, with access to the file on Neo devices raising fears that the number of unjustified consultations will increase. Article 226-21 of the penal code severely punishes the misuse of such a file causing the contravening a prison sentence of five years as well as a fine of 300,000 euros. The MP is moved by the conclusions of this journalistic investigation which illustrates the rise in power of technological tools that can be directly used during interventions and police practices sometimes implemented outside of a clearly established legal framework. This strengthening of real-time identification capabilities in public space is part of a broad movement to normalize mass technological control to which the bill aimed at offering immediate responses to phenomena disturbing public order, security and the tranquility of fellow citizens (RIPOST) contributes. This text provides in particular for extending video protection devices, including through the use of automated processing allowing real-time image analysis, readings automated number plates with a broader scope of use, the easy use of airborne cameras in emergency situations raising important issues of proportionality of the means deployed, the purposes of the data collected and consulted and effective control of their use. Also, she asks him to kindly indicate the measures he intends to implement to put an end to the use of software. facial recognition by the services placed under its authority which currently has no legal basis and thus put an end to these massive illicit consultations of the TAJ file.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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