National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet (NSK) (Danish National Special Crime Unit)
Facial recognition application for identifying child victims of sexual abuse in image material
ProposedParliamentary recordPAI-958C7AD7
- Body
- National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet (NSK) (Danish National Special Crime Unit)
- Country
- Denmark
- Area
- National
- Technology
- Facial recognition application for identifying child victims of sexual abuse in image material
- Supplier
- Not stated in the source
- Status
- Proposed
Planned by a named body: a procurement, approved budget, announced pilot or consultation. Not yet in use. - Stage
- On the horizon
- Since
- Not known
- Legal basis
- Not stated in the source
- Oversight
- The Ministry of Justice's briefing to the Folketing of 21 June 2024 states that the tool only assists with scanning images and that the final identification and linking of cases is done by an investigator.
- Evidence
- Parliamentary record
Hansard, committee evidence, written answers - Source
- Danish Ministry of Justice answer to Folketing question REU 311, 20 December 2024
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-958C7AD7
Notes
The Danish Ministry of Justice told the Folketing's Legal Affairs Committee on 21 June 2024 that NSK had run a trial of digitised victim identification in child sexual abuse cases from January to November 2023, using an application with facial recognition technology that NSK developed and that the police used to compare images of a victim with images from the police image database. The ministry said NSK's evaluation found that facial recognition could bring a 'markant kvalitetsløft' (marked improvement in quality) to victim identification, that the solution would therefore be implemented as an aid in both NSK and the other police districts, and that Rigspolitiet would make it usable on video material. Answering committee question 311 on 20 December 2024, on the basis of a statement from Rigspolitiet, the ministry said work was under way in the police towards permanent implementation of the tool. Neither document states that routine use after the trial has begun, so the record is shown as proposed. No supplier is named.
Facial recognition application for identifying child victims of sexual abuse in image material elsewhere in Denmark
See them in the tracker| Deployment | Country | Supplier | Since | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Københavns Politi (Copenhagen Police)Object and facial recognition in investigative video review | DenmarkCopenhagen | — | 2025 | Trial | |
| Københavns Vestegns Politi (Copenhagen Vestegn Police)Facial recognition function in a purchased IT programme, used to identify abused children | DenmarkCopenhagen Vestegn police district | — | 2022 | Discontinued |