Estonian politicians' stance on surveillance cameras hampers missing person investigation
Political wrangling between Estonian politicians over the Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) use of automatic license plate recognition cameras has hindered a real-life missing persons investigation, Virumaa Teataja reported, as using valuable surveillance camera data is now off the table.
Relatives have been searching for the third day now for Jaan, 67, who unexpectedly left his home in Tapa rural municipality earlier this week.
Rain Põllu, one of those relatives, said: "We had several calls yesterday (Tuesday EM ed.) with the police, the Defense Forces, and other state institutions," adding: "Unfortunately, all have admitted that after the ban on using camera images, they can no longer do their work effectively, and this hinders law enforcement from doing their jobs."
Camera footage would have been more useful in the earlier days of the investigation, he noted, adding that "I know that drawing attention to this will no longer help Jaan, but at the moment it seems that we will not find Jaan because politicians needed to get back at each other and show the ruling party in a bad light and undermine it."
The search for Jaan continues, with efforts focused on locating the black Toyota RAV4 he left home in (registration 758 BTL), while Jaan, described as 180 cm tall, slim, with dark hair, a grey beard, and wearing glasses, a brown-beige checkered flannel shirt, grey Nike sweatpants, brown sports shoes, and possibly a white "AlfaLaval" baseball cap with a blue peak, remains missing.
The Riigikogu in early June voted down a bill that would have legalized license plate recognition tech for at least six months, on the basis of data protection concerns. Their use had already been suspended in mid-May after media reports.
PPA chief Egert Belitšev said at the time the law needs to be updated to match tech developments and clarified, though added the agency has not acted unlawfully with speed camera data.
MP Varro Vooglaid (EKRE) more recently said he would be complaining to the Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI) and/or going to court over around 100 images of him in his car taken by surveillance cameras, claiming he is clearly identifiable and that the PPA has not responded to his requests for access. The PPA said nearly 50 others have also requested images of their vehicles taken in recent months.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Virumaa teataja
