The President of the Polish Personal Data Protection Authority (UODO) has alerted the Minister of the Interior and Administration about the need to regulate Police access to municipal video surveillance systems.

The supervisory authority was informed that the Police were proposing agreements to local government units to obtain permanent access to their surveillance systems. Such a practice raises doubts about its compliance with national and European law. Although the Police may obtain partial access to recordings for specific investigations, they do not have a legal basis to conduct broad, continuous, and systematic surveillance. The missions authorizing municipalities to use video surveillance cannot be extended or transferred to the Police through agreements with overly general clauses, which could threaten fundamental rights and freedoms.

Another point of concern relates to the use by the Police and municipal guards of facial recognition technologies or the analysis of other biometric data. The processing of such data is only permitted under specific circumstances and must be deemed "strictly necessary," based on a clear and precise legal basis of legislative rank. The President of the UODO therefore calls for the initiation of legislative work to comprehensively regulate the use of image recording coupled with biometrics. These future regulations must ensure that the processing of biometric data by law enforcement is limited to their legal missions, in a necessary and proportionate manner.