Italian State Police

SARI Enterprise performs retrospective facial recognition searches, submitting a facial image against the AFIS photographic database and returning a ranked candidate list for human examination. Approved by Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, in 2018, and described in Italian police documentation as an established system used by the Scientific Police.

A point the police's own explanation makes explicitly, and worth recording because it is the distinction this tracker exists to draw: the result is not itself a legally determinative identification. A trained operator assesses the candidates, and the output is an investigative lead rather than courtroom evidence.

Recorded separately from SARI Real Time, which is a distinct live version of the system with a different and unresolved legal status.

Sourcing and detail, verified August 2026. The Garante's approval is provvedimento n. 440 of 26 July 2018 (doc. web 9040256). Its reasoning is worth recording precisely: the Garante concluded SARI Enterprise did not constitute a new processing operation distinct from the manual AFIS search it replaced, but rather automated operations that previously required manual entry of identifying features, returning a priority-ordered list of similar photographic records. That reasoning is why the system rests on the same legal basis as the manual process rather than requiring its own.

Scale of the reference database: in a written parliamentary response the Interior Ministry stated AFIS then held 17,592,769 photographic records corresponding to 9,882,490 individuals. The database includes people charged with offences in Italy, but also irregular migrants and anyone required to renew or convert a residence permit, which means the searchable gallery extends well beyond people suspected of crime.

Contested, and recorded because it bears directly on verifiability: a FOIA-based investigation by StraLi and Privacy Network running from April 2025 to April 2026 reported that the Interior Ministry does not measure the system's effectiveness or its error rate, and criticised the 2018 Garante opinion as brief, not setting out its reasoning in full, and citing documents that were never made public. Italy has separately extended a moratorium on facial recognition in public places pending organic legislation that has still not been passed.

Update, November 2026. Legislative Decree no. 160 of 9 September 2026 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 214, 15 September 2026; in force 30 September 2026) regulates post-event facial recognition by the police forces in Article 10. Facial recognition components may be added to video surveillance systems but may be activated only after the images are acquired. A targeted search for a person suspected of an offence needs the authorisation of the judge for preliminary investigations (g.i.p.), requested by the public prosecutor; initial identification after an offence is left to designated officers. No decision with negative legal effects may rest solely on a facial recognition result, and untargeted, generalised or indiscriminate recognition is prohibited. Sistema Penale (20 October 2026) notes that the June draft required no judicial authorisation, and that the final text allows biometric processing only after the offence has been committed. The decree does not mention AFIS or SARI Enterprise, and does not say whether Article 10 covers searches of the AFIS photographic database. Separately, a coalition of digital-rights groups including Hermes Center reported on 12 March 2026 that Italy's moratorium on facial recognition in public places had been extended to 31 December 2027.