Belgian federal police scraps multi-million-euro digitisation project

The Belgian government has pulled the plug on an expensive police digitisation project, which was launched to modernise and combine outdated IT systems used by local and federal police forces.

More than €75 million has already been spent on the i-Police programme, but Belgian newspaper Le Soir has uncovered two confidential reports from the federal police from 2024 that expose the mismanagement of the funds allocated for the project.

A contract was awarded in 2021 to French IT company Sopra Steria worth €299 million.

The police documents obtained by Le Soir suggest that the project lacked clear objectives and effective oversight.

The reports claim that Sopra Steria used unqualified consultants, delivered limited results and had an overall lack of planning.

The Directorate of Police Information (DRi) was responsible for overseeing the project, but failed to identify issues with Sopra Steria, according to the reports.

The DRi also purchased a further €23 million of technology licenses that ended up being incompatible with its technological infrastructure.

The news comes at a time when concerns have already been expressed about the reliability and accuracy of police databases.

For now, the police will continue to rely on existing systems while a new digital strategy is developed, Le Soir reports.