Hillsborough County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Hillsborough County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Plant City Observer
Tampa Police Department
The Tampa Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Plant City Observer
The Tampa Police Department operates five drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.bidnet.comwww.faa.gov
The Tampa Police Department was awarded a $600,000 grant in 2019 from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance for a body-worn camera program. The grant allowed the department to purchase nearly 600 cameras for officers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): FLAPOLTampa Bay TimesBay News 9
The Tampa Police Department is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
The Tampa Police Department opened its real-time crime center in 2018. According to the Tampa Police Department’s 2018 Annual Budget, the RTCC utilizes investigative a variety of software tools and camera surveillance systems.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ABC
The Tampa Police Department began using ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in 2019.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ABC News
The Tampa Police Department maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Tampa
Plant City Police Department
The Plant City Police Department is pending $133,000 to install cameras with subesequent maintenance, continual software and data updating service at $60,000 per year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Plant City Observer
In March 2022, the Plant City Police Department purchased 80 body-worn cameras as part of a 5-year contract for services with Motorola Solutions totalling $283,520.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Plant City Observer
The Plant City Police Department operates two DJI drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard CollegeFlorida Senatewww.plantcityobserver.com
The Plant City Police Department is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
Temple Terrace Police Department
The Temple Terrance Police Department operates a drone program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida SenateSpectrum NewsTampa Bay 10
According to reporting from The Markup, the Temple Terrace Police Department used PredPol (now Geolitica) between 02/01/19 and 01/30/21.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Markup
After ending a body-worn camera program initiated in 2015, the Temple Terrace Police Department reinstated its program in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Tampa Bay News
The Temple Terrace Police Department is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office activated the Fusus platform to host their Real-Time Crime Center in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fusus
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office operates one drone as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.faa.gov
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office uses body-worn cameras, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's 2019 Criminal Justice Agency Profile Report.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office began using ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in 2015. The initial three-year contract cost $800,000.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ShotSpotter
University of South Florida Police Department
The University of South Florida Police Department has been using drones since at least 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida Senate
The University of South Florida Police Department is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
Tampa International Airport Police
The Tampa International Airport Police is one of more than 275 law enforcement agencies with access to the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES), a face recognition program maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Investigators may upload an image to search more than 25-million Florida driver's license photos and mugshots.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Orlando SentinelCenter on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown LawPinellas County Sheriff's Office
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026