Fedpol bans Swiss police from using skin colour in national search system

The federal government has forbidden cantonal police in Switzerland from using skin colour as a way to identify people. The description can no longer be entered into the national search system, Ripol.

Skin colour can no longer be entered into Ripol

The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) has banned cantonal police from entering skin colour into Ripol, the national search system that is used to store information about wanted people and track crimes in Switzerland. According to Blick, the change comes following an official complaint by a foreign authority. 

Fedpol wrote in a letter sent to Swiss police that using skin colour to describe people “must be critically examined in today’s complex society”. Skin colour is not an easily definable characteristic because it can be perceived differently from person to person, Blick reports. Fedpol has said that skin colour is used in less than 1 percent of entries into Ripol. 

Racial profiling is not a new topic in Switzerland. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Mohamed Wa Baile in 2024, who was stopped and fined by police for refusing to show his ID. Blick reported that Switzerland was found guilty of discrimination. In 2023, the Federal Service for Combating Racism, a branch of the Swiss government, argued that Switzerland is systemically racist and that forms of structural or systemic racism are present in how laws are enforced by the police.   

Fedpol decision divides cantonal police and Swiss political parties

The decision has been met with mixed reactions among the Swiss cantonal police. Mario Fehr, Police Director in the Canton of Zurich, told NZZ that the change is “unhelpful” and “politically motivated”. Zurich Cantonal Police plan to continue inputting characteristics, including “if someone is dark-skinned”, into Polis, a cantonal system similar to Ripol.

Discussion about using skin colour as a descriptor is taking place among political parties in Switzerland, too. An SVP (Swiss People’s Party) National Councillor said the decision “must be reversed immediately” and that it “endangers the safety of the population”. On the other side, a Green Party National Councillor expressed their “sincere praise for Fedpol” for removing the use of skin colour as a descriptor.