Lee County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Lee 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
Lee County Sheriff’s Office
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office launched a real-time intellegence center in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Police 1
Lee County Sheriff's Office
The Lee County Sheriff's Office uses Vintra software to analyze video, according to a March 2023 report.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Los Angeles Times
The Lee County Sheriff's Office uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fort Myers Beach Talk
The Lee County Sheriff's Office operates 25 DJI drones as of 2018, 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 Sheriffs Associationwww.winknews.com
The Lee 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
Fort Myers Police Department
According to reporting from The Markup, the Fort Myers Police Department used PredPol (now Geolitica) between 2/14/19 and 1/30/21.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Markup
The Fort Myers Police Department uses automated license palte readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Wink NewsFort Myers Beach ObserverNBC-2
The Fort Myers Police Department uses BriefCam software in its Real-Time Crime Center.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Police MagazineFort Myers Police Department
The Fort Myers Police Department uses drones.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida SenateNews Press
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $37,500 to the Fort Myers Police Department in 2018 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of JusticeFacebookwww.news-press.com
The Fort Myers Police Department implemented ShotSpotter gunshot detection at its Real Time Crime Center, which opened in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Police MagNews PressWJCT News
The Fort Myers Police Department launched its real-time crime center in 2018. The RTCC has access to 85 surveillance cameras placed across the city, and ShotSpotter gunshot detection sensors. According to Police Magazine, the RTCC is staffed by officers and civilian crime analysts and housed in the FMPD's Technical Operations Center. The RTCC uses automated license plate readers mounted freestanding or on cruisers in order to capture vehicle plates numbers and compare them to a database of those with possible infractions. The system is also being used to analyze crime and traffic patterns. The RTCC also relies on Live Earth, a $95,000 software tool that integrates several technologies into one map platform for real-time monitoring.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Police MagazineWGCU NPRNews-Press
The Fort Myers 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
Cape Coral Police Department
The Cape Coral 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 Cape Coral Police Department spent $101,445 on Vetted Security Solutions automated license plate readers in 2019.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The News-PressThe City of Cape Coral Police Department
The Cape Coral Police Department 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
Sanibel Police Department
The Sanibel 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
Keeping Florida Horse Safe
The Keeping Florida Horse Safe operates a camera registry via CRIMEWATCH.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CRIMEWATCH
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026