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Northeast Florida Surveillance Tracker

41 documented surveillance technologies in use by 16 law-enforcement agencies across Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, and Baker counties — from Flock license plate readers to face recognition and drones.

13 Face Recognition6 Automated License Plate Readers6 Drones5 Third-party Investigative Platforms4 Body-worn Cameras2 Camera Registry2 Real-Time Crime Center1 Video Analytics1 Cell-site Simulator1 Gunshot Detection

Duval County

Atlantic Beach Police Department

CSX Railroad Police Department

Florida Department of Law Enforcement - Jacksonville

Jacksonville Beach Police Department

Jacksonville Police Department

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office

Neptune Beach Police Department

Neptune Beach Public Safety Department

  • Automated License Plate ReadersVendor: Flock Safety

    The Neptune Beach Public Safety Department operates four Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.

    Sources: Pittsboro Police Department (9/11/2025)

University of North Florida Police Department

  • Body-worn CamerasVendor: Axon

    The University of North Florida Police Department began using body-worn cameras in 2015. In 2018, it received a U.S. Department of Justice grant to further expand the program.

    Sources: Spinnaker (01/16/2018)

  • Face RecognitionVendor: Idemia

    The University of North 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: Orlando Sentinel (07/12/2019) · Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law (10/18/2016) · Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (2015)

  • Third-party Investigative PlatformsVendor: LexisNexis Risk Solutions

    The University of North Florida Police Department uses the LexisNexis Accurint Virtual Crime Center investigative platform.

    Sources: Miami Beach Police Department (03/01/2024)

St. Johns County

St. Augustine Police Department

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office

Clay County

Clay County Sheriff's Office

Orange Park Police Department

Nassau County

Fernandina Beach Police Department

Nassau County Sheriff's Office

Baker County

Baker County Sheriff's Office

What these technologies are

Face Recognition
Software that matches photos or video stills against databases of driver’s-license photos and mugshots.
Automated License Plate Readers
Cameras (often Flock Safety) that photograph and log every passing license plate, building a searchable record of vehicle movements.
Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles used for aerial monitoring, crash reconstruction, and incident response.
Third-party Investigative Platforms
Commercial data brokers and analytics platforms (e.g., social-media monitoring, data aggregation) purchased for investigations.
Body-worn Cameras
Officer-worn video cameras; footage access and retention policies vary by agency.
Camera Registry
Programs asking residents and businesses to register (and sometimes share) private security cameras.
Real-Time Crime Center
Centralized hubs that fuse live camera feeds, license-plate data, and analytics.
Video Analytics
AI software that scans camera footage for objects, people, or behavior patterns.
Cell-site Simulator
Devices ("stingrays") that mimic cell towers to locate or identify phones nearby.
Gunshot Detection
Acoustic sensor networks (e.g., ShotSpotter) that attempt to locate gunfire.

About this data

Entries come from the Atlas of Surveillance, a research project by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada, Reno (data licensed CC BY 4.0), filtered to law-enforcement agencies in Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, and Baker counties. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-10.

The Atlas documents what agencies are publicly known to use — it is a floor, not a ceiling. Agencies may operate technologies that have not yet been documented, and some listed deployments may have been discontinued. If you have a correction or a record we should see, contact us.

For ongoing reporting on surveillance and technology in the region, see our Technology coverage.