Swiss surveillance operations escalating rapidly

Antennae can be combed for suspicious traffic with a court order Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Swiss law enforcement and the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) ordered twice as many surveillance sweeps of the telecommunications network in 2024 as in the previous year.

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For the first time in years, the number of antenna searches doubled compared to the previous year, the Postal and Telecommunications Surveillance Service (PTSS) has announced.

An antenna scan involves the retrospective monitoring of all communications, communication attempts, and network accesses that occurred at a specific location. These must have occurred over a specific period of time via specific cell towers.

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There was also a sharp increase in real-time surveillance, retrospective surveillance, and emergency searches. In addition, PTSS provided approximately 20% more information. Numbers decreased slightly for searches related to tracking down wanted persons for law enforcement agencies.

Up-front payment

According to telecommunications surveillance statistics, 43% of all surveillance measures in 2024 were property crimes. The number of surveillance measures in this context has more than tripled compared to the previous year.

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Orders issued for criminal offenses against life and limb also more than doubled. Measures involving investigations related to serious violations of the Narcotics Act increased 15%.

According to the PTSS, it is not possible to say exactly why the number of surveillance measures has increased so sharply. But changes to the way surveillance is paid for, which came into force at the beginning of 2024, may have had an effect.

Previously, authorities had to pay a fee for each individual surveillance operation. Today, the measures are financed through lump sums, one-quarter of which is paid by the federal government and three-quarters by the cantons.

Court orders

It can be assumed that in the past, the authorities were more reluctant to request surveillance, partly for cost reasons.

The PTSS takes action when law enforcement agencies or FIS requests surveillance as part of investigations into serious crimes. There must be strong suspicion against a person.

Surveillance is only used as a last resort after other investigative attempts have failed or if the investigation would be unnecessarily prolonged without surveillance. Before surveillance can begin, approval from the relevant public prosecutor’s office and the relevant court is required.

Before implementing any measure, FIS obtains approval from the Federal Administrative Court and the Minister of Defense. The Minister of Defense consults with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice beforehand.

FIS ordered 106 surveillance operations in 2024. The previous year, there were 46 surveillance operations.

Adapted from German by DeepL/mga

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