For most of the past two years, police technology teams across Europe worked toward a single date: August 2nd 2026. That was the day the EU Artificial Intelligence Act's heaviest obligations were supposed to land on the systems that forces use to profile suspects, assess evidence and identify people in public spaces. Then, three weeks before the deadline, the date moved. On 24th July 2026, the EU published Regulation 2026/1744 (the Digital Omnibus on AI), delaying compliance
