Sarasota County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Sarasota 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
Sarasota Police Department
The Sarasota Police Department has used license plate readers since at least 2018. The agency currently uses Flock Safety ALPRs.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Suncoast Searchlight10 News
The Sarasota Police Department received City Commission approval in 2020 for the purchase of 122 Axon body-worn cameras with a planned 2021 launch of the body-worn camera program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Sarasota Herald Tribune
The Sarasota 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
North Port Police Department
North Port Police Department uses the Fusus camera registry system.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): 404 Media
The North Port Police Department entered into a sole-source contract with Clearview AI for face recognition technology.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): DemandStar
The North Port Police Department operates one DJI Inspire drone as of 2020, 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.mysuncoast.com
The North Port 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 North Port 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
Venice Police Department
The Venice City Coucil approved the use of automated license plate readers in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WTSP
The Venice 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 Venice Police Department was approved to use Convergent's BriefCam video analytics software in 2019.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Venice Legislation
Sarasota County Sheriff's Office
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office acquired 122 Axon body-worn cameras in 2020 with plans to launch the department's body-worn camera program in mid-2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office operates one Draganfly Draganflyer Commander drone as of 2016, 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 Collegeunmanned-aerial.com
The Sarasota 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 Sarasota County Sheriff's Office uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): 19 Tampa BayHerald Tribune
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026