Facial recognition system identifies and leads to arrests at Oktoberfest
Brazil's Santa Catarina state deployed a facial recognition system at Oktoberfest 2025 in Blumenau, which successfully identified two men with outstanding arrest warrants on the festival's opening day, leading to their arrests.
What happened
The State Security Department of Santa Catarina deployed a facial recognition system called ProRef (Projeto Reconhecimento Facial) at Oktoberfest 2025 in Blumenau. The system used 60 cameras equipped with AI facial recognition from a total of 330 monitoring cameras at the event and connected them to the state's police database.
On the opening day of the festival (October 8, 2025), the system identified two men with outstanding arrest warrants. A 58-year-old from Florianópolis was detected at the park entrance, alerted police, and was arrested by the Civil Police. A 55-year-old man with pending legal obligations was also identified by the system but fled the venue in a vehicle before police arrived; he was later found and arrested by the Military Police with assistance from their intelligence sector.
Reported impact
State Security Secretary Flávio Graff stated that the technological resources demonstrated their efficiency in supporting security institutions and increasing response capacity to public demands.
Index analysis
The facial recognition system successfully detected individuals with outstanding warrants in a crowd at a major public event. The system was designed to identify fugitives and missing persons as stated by authorities, with data connected to official police records.
Governance controls
The system was deployed with coordination between the state security department, municipal government, park management, and multiple police forces. The first-time connection of the cameras to the SSP-SC database required coordination with existing law enforcement systems.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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