News: Zurich Police Regulations Regarding Surveillance Ruled Unconstitutional

The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that certain amendments to Zurich cantonal police regulations that pertain to surveillance are unconstitutional. According to a story in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung, provisions concerning both the scope of surveillance and the duration for which surveillance footage might be preserved were among those which the court deemed to be in violation of constitutional protections. The court found that the amendments would permit both plain and covert surveillance throughout all public spaces within the Canton and that this lack of constraint represented an impermissible encroachment upon the freedom and private sphere of citizens. Another provision would have permitted film footage from surveillance activities to be preserved for up to a year or until related investigations had been concluded. According to the NZZ, the court held that the maximum period for preservation of such records is 100 days, thus demonstrating agreement with a decision which had been reached two years earlier in a case from the Canton of St. Gallen.