Bundespolizei (German Federal Police)

netzpolitik.org (2 April 2026), citing the Federal Interior Ministry's answer to a parliamentary question (linked as Bundestag Drucksache 21/4186, which could not be read), reports that the Bundespolizei ran about 30,000 searches in the BKA facial recognition system (GES) in 2025, about half as many again as the year before, with 5,328 hits (about one in six searches) and about 6,000 investigative leads, up from about 4,500; it notes that the figures may include double counts. Earlier netzpolitik.org reporting (16 December 2024) gives 16,904 Bundespolizei searches in 2023, with 2,113 hits. The start of the Bundespolizei's use of the system is not given in these sources. The Bundestag adopted a reform of the Bundespolizeigesetz in a repeated final vote on 25 September 2026 and the Bundesrat approved it the same day (beck-aktuell, ZDF and the Baden-Württemberg interior ministry, 25 September 2026); ZDF reports that it allows the Bundespolizei in future to use automatic real-time facial recognition at stations in particular danger situations and AI analysis of movement patterns. No use of those new powers has been reported, and they are not recorded here as in use.