Federal Court strikes down parts of Bern's police law

The Federal Court has partly annulled the revision of the canton of Bern's police law, which came into force in August 2024. The appeal was brought by the Democratic Lawyers, civil rights organisations and left-wing parties, which warned of mass surveillance and disproportionate infringements of fundamental rights.

After more than three hours of deliberation in a public session, the judges found for the appellants on several counts.

Bodycams for prevention only

The court invalidated the provisions that authorised the use of bodycams for criminal prosecution. Cameras worn by officers remain permitted, but with a preventive function only, that is to deter a situation from escalating, not to gather evidence for use in proceedings.

On automated vehicle searches, the court held that keeping data that produces no match is disproportionate. Those records, known as no-hit data, must be deleted immediately. It is the technically most significant point, because it concerns the mass of journeys recorded indiscriminately for people who are not the subject of any search.

The judges also struck down rules allowing the occupants of a vehicle to be photographed after a positive number-plate match. Such a measure, they ruled, constitutes a serious infringement of fundamental rights and is not appropriate for minor offences.

The court did, however, reject the challenge to the so-called lex Reitschule, the provision allowing the canton to impose surveillance measures on municipalities. Here the decision is procedural: individual citizens and associations do not have standing to challenge measures that affect only municipal bodies.

This is not the first setback for the Bern law. In 2020 the Federal Court had already invalidated provisions on GPS surveillance and on the removal of Travellers.

The ruling reaches beyond the canton. Several cantonal police laws contain similar rules on bodycams and automatic number-plate recognition, and the criteria set by the federal judges become the benchmark for assessing them.