Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia Police
Data Integration and Link Analysis (Palantir Gotham), supplied by Palantir Technologies
OperationalOfficial publicationPAI-143B69BA
- Body
- North Rhine-Westphalia Police
- Country
- Germany
- Area
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Technology
- Data Integration and Link Analysis (Palantir Gotham)
- Supplier
- Palantir Technologies
- Programme
- DAR
- Status
- Operational
In routine use by the named body, on the evidence of a public source. - Stage
- In use now
- Since
- 2019
- Legal basis
- State police laws. On 16 February 2023 the Federal Constitutional Court held the enabling provisions in Hessian and Hamburg police law unconstitutional in their then form, ruling that automated analysis of stored data is itself an interference with informational self-determination requiring a proportionate legal threshold.
- Oversight
- State data protection commissioner (LfDI NRW), who has questioned the revised police-law provision; state legislature; Federal Constitutional Court (2023 ruling on equivalent Hesse and Hamburg provisions)
- Evidence
- Official publication
Police force, government department or public body publication - Source
- Land NRW press release, 10 July 2026; netzpolitik.org, 20 April and 15 October 2026
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-143B69BA
Notes
North Rhine-Westphalia operates DAR (Datenbankübergreifende Analyse und Recherche), built on Palantir Gotham. The Federal Constitutional Court described the capability as able to generate new suspicions and information police had no prior grounds to hold, and in February 2023 struck down the Hesse and Hamburg provisions as drafted (1 BvR 1547/19).
Update, November 2026. The state government announced on 10 July 2026 that the State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD NRW) had concluded a bridging contract with Palantir with a basic term of one year; the current contract ends in October 2026, and the police are tendering new data-analysis software, with the end of that process not yet foreseeable. Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the police need to be able to analyse data quickly and securely "ohne zeitliche Brüche" (without interruption). netzpolitik.org (20 April 2026) reports that Palantir has supplied DAR since 2019 at a cost of at least 39 million euros, and that the state data protection commissioner, Bettina Gayk, doubted the constitutionality of the revised police-law provision on automated data analysis (section 23(6) PolG NRW), which she says permits self-learning systems and the training of IT products with police data; no court ruling on that provision is reported. netzpolitik.org (15 October 2026) reports over 47 million euros spent since 2019, a re-tender in April 2026 with the award expected in October, and the winner not yet known.
Data Integration and Link Analysis (Palantir Gotham) elsewhere in Germany
See them in the tracker| Deployment | Country | Supplier | Since | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hessen PoliceData Integration and Link Analysis (Palantir Gotham) | GermanyHesse | Palantir Technologies | 2017 | Operational | |
| Bavarian State PoliceData Integration and Link Analysis (Palantir Gotham) | GermanyBavaria | Palantir Technologies | 2024 | Operational |