ArgentinaPublic sector2019–2022

City of Buenos Aires government

Fugitives Facial Recognition System (SRFP)

A Buenos Aires court declared the city's fugitive facial recognition system unconstitutional in 2022

StoppedCompany's own claim

Problem

The city security ministry wanted to find people with outstanding arrest warrants among passers-by on public streets. Officers relied on a national database of fugitives, which was large and had outdated entries.

Approach

The system went live on 24 April 2019 under Resolution 398 and ran on 300 of the city's 9,326 street cameras. Per Chequeado, the city paid US$1.51 million over 17 months to the supplier Danaide. In 2022 a city administrative court, in a case filed by the digital-rights group ODIA, ruled the system unconstitutional because it was set up without the legal safeguards for personal data.

Results

1,924people identified by the system by 4 March 2020, per the city security secretaryCompany's own claim[2]

418people detained out of those identified, per the city security secretaryCompany's own claim[2]

8+people identified in error, found by Chequeado's reportingPress reporting[2]

US$1.51 millioncost over 17 months paid to Danaide, per Chequeado citing the city gazettePress reporting[2]

Takeaway

The court faulted the city for launching without a data-protection impact assessment and working oversight bodies. The system had also stored faces of everyone passing a camera.

Sources

Se declara inconstitucional el sistema de reconocimiento facial de prófugos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Marval O'Farrell Mairal26 Oct 2022News article
Videovigilancia en Buenos Aires: la otra cara del control
Chequeado28 May 2020News article

Source summaries

[1]Marval O'Farrell Mairal26 Oct 2022

Buenos Aires Administrative and Tax Court No. 4 ruled on a case brought by the Observatorio de Derecho Informático Argentino. The court declared the system unconstitutional for breaching city and national data-protection law and said it showed irregularities such as false positives. It also found that the system stored faces of everyone passing a camera.

[2]Chequeado28 May 2020

Chequeado investigated the city's camera network and the facial recognition system launched in April 2019. The city said it had identified 1,924 people and detained 418 as of March 2020, and paid the supplier US$1.51 million over 17 months. Chequeado also reported at least 8 misidentifications and problems in the national fugitives database.

Full details are in the original sources.

Added 25 Oct 2026 · Updated 25 Oct 2026