Yulee, Fla. – Sheriff Bill Leeper has announced the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) has obtained a facial recognition system with the assistance from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office through a $3.5 million grant that the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office received from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Facial recognition is one of the most powerful new technologies being used by law enforcement. By using facial recognition on a pre-booking image, deputies have the ability to compare the suspect’s face against the 5,000,000 images already in the database and match the image to the correct identity should the suspect provide false information.
On a typical day the Sheriff’s Office will deal with individuals such as: a man arrested for disorderly conduct; an inmate awaiting release from the detention facility; a thief who has used the identities of his victims to gain access to their finances; and the screening of wanted criminals, etc.
By using the facial recognition program, deputies can conduct a face recognition search wirelessly to determine if the individual has been previously arrested. As a result, deputies can immediately determine if an individual being questioned has a prior criminal record and/or is wanted in order to make a necessary arrest on the spot.
The NSCO has found the face recognition program to be an invaluable tool in providing quick and accurate identity information on individuals, allowing officers to correctly identify even the most uncooperative suspects and conduct more efficient investigations.
The NCSO has partnered with other state and local agencies in Florida to maximize the effectiveness of the system. Some of the agencies participating include:
- Florida Department of Corrections
- Hillsborough County SO
- Miami Dade PD
- Orange County SO
- Leon County SO
- Duval County SO
- Hernando County SO
- Polk County SO
- Pasco County SO
- Sumter County SO
