The police have now been given the green light to use facial recognition technology in the investigation of certain crimes, including cases of child sexual abuse. This is stated in a press release from the Ministry of Justice. The new technology will be used to identify children who have been victims of sexual abuse, as well as in cases of ongoing abuse and distribution of abusive material.
Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard (S) states that the expansion of the police’s tools is a necessary measure to combat serious crimes. “Sexual abuse of children is one of the most abhorrent and cruel things that exist. Today, the police are doing a great deal of work to combat sexual offenses online, and we must constantly ensure that the police have the right tools,” he says.
The decision to permanently introduce facial recognition comes after a trial conducted from January to November 2023. The trial was initiated following a political agreement in 2022, where several parties agreed to test the technology. The police’s evaluation of the trial has shown that facial recognition can significantly strengthen investigations.
The National Unit for Special Crimes has developed an application that allows the police to compare images of victims with images from the police’s image database or with image material from a specific case.
In 2023, Danish police received 10,287 reports of child sexual abuse from the American organization National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which is an increase from 7573 reports the previous year, according to the press release.
“I am therefore very pleased that work is now being initiated to enable police districts to use digital victim recognition to identify children and young people under 18 years of age who are victims of sexual abuse. It is an important tool in the fight to protect our children and young people from abuse,” Peter Hummelgaard adds.