I-Police, the ambitious digitisation project for the federal police, is being discontinued with immediate effect, dailies De Standaard and Le Soir report. Home minister Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal MR) has confirmed the news. A thorough evaluation has shown that, almost five years after its launch, the project has produced ‘no tangible results’.
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Police digitisation is omnishambles: minister cancels €299 million mega contract
Colin Clapson
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Digitising police work processes, bringing together different data systems into a single information platform and thus enabling faster detection of risks and criminal networks: these were the ambitious objectives of the i-Police project, which was launched at the end of 2021.
The then home minister, Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat CD&V), signed a contract worth 299 million euros with the French IT consultancy firm Sopra Steria Group. Today, her successor, Quintin, is cancelling this mega contract.
Digitisation woes
This marks the end of an agonising journey for the project, which was announced by Verlinden's predecessor Jan Jambon (Flemish nationalist N-VA) in 2017, in the aftermath of the Brussels terror attacks.
By the end of 2022, the substandard digitisation of the police force was one of the reasons that triggered the departure of chief of police Marc De Mesmaeker. Under his successor, in February 2024 it was decided to reduce the programme to four priorities, but even after that adjustment, concrete results in the field failed to materialise.
When the new government took office, Minister Quintin ordered a thorough evaluation. This revealed fundamental shortcomings in the implementation of the public contract.
A number of sub-projects were halted in May. Payments were also put on hold: to date, €75.8 million has been paid out, of which €1.8 million was paid during this parliament. After the French company was found not to have complied with requirements, the public contract has now also been formally terminated.
No new mega contract in the offing
However, the end of i-Police does not mean that the digitisation of the police services will stop, the home minister, who is also responsible for the Federal Police emphasised. Although a new mega contract is, however, not immediately on the cards.
‘Our police force needs a different, more effective digital approach,’ says Quintin. To this end, he is focusing primarily on ‘small-scale, modular projects that respond directly to the needs on the ground and that are developed by services with the necessary expertise’.
Belgium’s Federal Police has acknowledged ‘The lack of results from the i-Police project has slowed down the digital transformation’. However, digitisation remains a priority.