Leon County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Leon 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
Leon County Sheriff's Office
The Leon County Sheriff's Office operates 26 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Leon 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 Leon County Sheriff's Office created a drone team in January 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida Sheriffs AssociationLeon County Sheriff Facebook
The Leon 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 Leon County Real-Time Crime Center opened on November 2019, but as of 2021 it shared space at Florida State University with the FSUPD's own real-time crime center. The RTCC includes partnerships with Leon County Schools, Leon County Detention Facility, Leon County Courthouse, Florida State University, and the City of Tallahassee. As of April 23, 2019, the system only had access to cameras at Leon County public schools and the county courthouse. The system also allows people who use Ring doorbells to add their camera to the database.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Leon County Sheriff's OfficeWTXL TallahasseeWTXL Tallahassee
Tallahassee Police Department
The Tallahassee Police Department operates 18 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Tallahassee Police Department purchased 410 Axon body-worn cameras in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WXTL TallahasseeWCTV
The Tallahassee Police Department uses drones. The agency received a $75,000 grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to pay for new drones in October 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WTXL TalahasseeDrone XL
The Tallahassee 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 Tallahassee Police Department use a real-time crime center.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of TallahasseeTallahassee DemocratFlorida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Florida Highway Patrol
The Florida Highway Patrol deploys automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor VehiclesFlorida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
The Florida Highway Patrol operates one DJI Matrice drone 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 SenateU.S. Department od Transportation
The Florida Highway Patrol 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
Florida State University Police Department
The Florida State University Police Department operates 15 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Florida State University Police Department began using body-worn cameras as early as 2014.
Florida State University Police Department launched a $2.3-million real-time crime center in March 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida State UniversityGenetecFlorida State University
Florida Department of Law Enforcement - Tallahassee
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement purchased a Nyxcell cell site simulator and a FalcoNet airborne cell-site simulator. The cell-site simulator is part of a $3.13 million package for "confidential hardware and software" from Cognyte. Previously, the agency acquired a Stingray II cell-site simulator from Harris Corp. in 2011.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Florida Depatment of Law EnforcementKevin CollierMuckRock
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement 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
Florida A & M University Police Department
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $22,458 to the Florida A & M University Police Department in 2017 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of Justice
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation 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
Florida Department of Corrections
The Florida Department of Corrections 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
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has access to the oldest face recognition program in the country, Face Analysis Comparison and Examination System (FACES), which includes 19 million driver’s licence photos (as of 2015) shared with 273 partner agencies (as of 2019), including 17 federal agencies (including FBI FACE Services Unit, ICE, CBP, and IRS), as well as university police and many other state and federal agencies.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier Foundation
Florida Department of Legal Affairs
The Florida Department of Legal Affairs 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
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission - Division Of Law Enforcement
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission - Division Of Law Enforcement operates 35 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission 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
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 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
Florida Lottery Division of Security
The Florida Lottery Division of Security 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
Florida State Fire Marshal's Office
The Florida State Fire Marshal'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
State Attorney's Office, Second Judicial Circuit
The State Attorney's Office, Second Judicial Circuit 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
Tallahassee Community College Police Department
The Tallahassee Community College 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
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026
In the press
Coverage naming Leon County or a jurisdiction within it.