FOIA - Pinellas County Sheriff's Office - Facial Recognition tech

Dear J Ader:
Thank you for your interest in public records of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. This is an automated reply confirming receipt of your request submitted on 11/21/2019. Your request has been provided with reference number P041375-112119 for tracking purposes. In accordance with Florida Public Records Law, Chapter 119 of the Florida State Statutes, we are in the process of researching your request and will notify you when it is available for release. Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Florida Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:

Facial recognition systems are increasingly utilized by law enforcement agencies. This allows officers to quickly identify persons of interest through the use of an extensive database and a tool such as FaceFirst.

Knowing this, I am hereby requesting the following:

-any/all contractual documents including purchase orders, delivery orders, bids, quotes, RFPs, responses to RFPs, invoices and contracts with facial recognition companies including (but not limited to) FaceFirst Inc., Face Searcher by Allevate Limited, Face-VACS by Cognitec Systems GmbH, First Line Facial Recognition by Blue Line Technology, any products by Animetrics, SCRAM remote breath by Alcohol Monitoring Systems, or MegaMatcher by Neurotechnology. Other systems may also be used, such as the system developed by the FBI.

-any/all policies or guidelines about the use of facial recognition technology

-any/all grant applications or reports to any oversight bodies

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

J Ader

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://accounts.muckrock.com/accounts/login/?url_auth_token=AAA1b0Ltarqna8Xt95mglEmza1U%3A1iXqOv%3A5NNxGwa0c4JWCIKrZ3VdkeFqUkI&next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.muckrock.com%2Faccounts%2Flogin%2F%3Fnext%3D%252Faccounts%252Fagency_login%252Fpinellas-county-sheriffs-office-4630%252Ffoia-pinellas-county-sheriffs-office-facial-recognition-tech-82988%252F%253Femail%253Drecords%252540pcsonet.com Your request will be forwarded to the relevant county department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question.

PLEASE NOTE: The Florida Freedom of Public Information Act (Florida Sunshine Law) does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions.
Please do not reply to this correspondence You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Public Records Center.
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the Public Records Center. (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=xSfKPyHO1-2F4Mny2NCLJVuiLQc0CDeEBMnxK9xQhnZ3JhXN-2FPiYlRCaxc4lF2TdbPB-2F4aY2NjSHtZRVTMOntxH4NAx9dgFTLULl2-2FaxwMISY-3D_RkNTQhGtXCXgOiyvck9Gatmt0X5J2AKJLxaC0SPtDGXT2IcWaoA93J4AXSO-2BGGjhz8nmKGecGAb-2BxyIMx8tYiIQVW8i8xKqhJPLnY8GhF5DrGKzxd2ZE1zXZv1RqXT8LkE4nAwdj0WDh4JWudDnFdAjuki7hY961uC2ehSeIgU6M3TcvNyWzctdCCbJ-2BGVK0WFXwDXQcJY0fXeGTIFdbUF0SbvvDnOSqR-2FIF2Pn0PoAfODcMT-2BGf9RVUbfDoUmt9RV2-2FWVjjI69fh7eruNE19lRlNb3k2u7ZEjOCZ-2FaM6K8tJLYpqYYvXqDAPiPbcdgpszbt6FTPwQ8rnfI8pXrDeFohsAFY2omDdkL0K9DmGknn7rV8sX1x23O4zfSoS5Ha)

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12/04/2019
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of November 21, 2019, Reference # P041375-112119
Dear J Ader,
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office received a public records request from you on November 21, 2019. Your request mentioned:
“To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Florida Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:

Facial recognition systems are increasingly utilized by law enforcement agencies. This allows officers to quickly identify persons of interest through the use of an extensive database and a tool such as FaceFirst.

Knowing this, I am hereby requesting the following:

-any/all contractual documents including purchase orders, delivery orders, bids, quotes, RFPs, responses to RFPs, invoices and contracts with facial recognition companies including (but not limited to) FaceFirst Inc., Face Searcher by Allevate Limited, Face-VACS by Cognitec Systems GmbH, First Line Facial Recognition by Blue Line Technology, any products by Animetrics, SCRAM remote breath by Alcohol Monitoring Systems, or MegaMatcher by Neurotechnology. Other systems may also be used, such as the system developed by the FBI.

-any/all policies or guidelines about the use of facial recognition technology

-any/all grant applications or reports to any oversight bodies

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

J Ader

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://accounts.muckrock.com/accounts/login/?url_auth_token=AAA1b0Ltarqna8Xt95mglEmza1U%3A1iXqOv%3A5NNxGwa0c4JWCIKrZ3VdkeFqUkI&next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.muckrock.com%2Faccounts%2Flogin%2F%3Fnext%3D%252Faccounts%252Fagency_login%252Fpinellas-county-sheriffs-office-4630%252Ffoia-pinellas-county-sheriffs-office-facial-recognition-tech-82988%252F%253Femail%253Drecords%252540pcsonet.com” Due to the voluminous potentially responsive records to your request, please provide a time frame for the records you are seeking.  Also please clarify if in addition to facial recognition system records, you are requesting alcohol monitoring system records.
If you would like for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to proceed with your public records request, please provide clarifications within ten (10) days from 12/04/2019. Otherwise, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office will consider your request withdrawn.
You may provide a response to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office by any of the following methods:
1. by responding to this email
2. by regular mail to Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, P. O. Drawer 2500, Largo, FL 33779-2500; or
3. in person at the Records Office of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office 10750 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL 33778
Upon receipt of your clarification, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office will further respond to your Public Records Request as required by law, including providing you with an estimate of costs associated with producing the requested records.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Preston
Public Records Specialist
Public Records Processing Unit
To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the Public Records Center (https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=xSfKPyHO1-2F4Mny2NCLJVuiLQc0CDeEBMnxK9xQhnZ3JhXN-2FPiYlRCaxc4lF2TdbPB-2F4aY2NjSHtZRVTMOntxH4NAx9dgFTLULl2-2FaxwMISY-3D_RkNTQhGtXCXgOiyvck9Gatmt0X5J2AKJLxaC0SPtDGXT2IcWaoA93J4AXSO-2BGGjhz8nmKGecGAb-2BxyIMx8tYiLF2e8a9PDyU1-2BPrynaoomDh-2BzdRrChR1uYcWFc5fh-2Bqho4PoGmXJKLB-2BKKiBKaHyzUzl-2BuKJDb9JUMjuZs7vH7OO5uxWnjur2H46mRfmfiTHGkhly3oatMqW4srX8dSEtVtLx1f5JeQkM1rzfqdTr3-2FlMN-2Fj9ywlAywjx8B6MGUkLIU1jXHNPhlTqBMxQLfUdyAHoSPdObTGPIqSvZXvwarP94P-2F1SysB4ajBbyD71FVUDxUqWPDL1lTI1icd1ZyO3nIZ1KPOAzIXt2vV3Vs8e-2BCGCRS-2B3qF1XEWYScXQzf)