Privacy and Security Notice

When you visit MDSO web sites, we may collect some information from you. This information does not identify you personally and may include:

• Your Internet protocol address
• Date and time of visit
• Referring links
• Search terms
• Links you click on
• Your browser
• Your operating system

How We Use Information We Collect

How We Share Information We Collect

As a rule, MDSO does not disclose any personally identifiable information collected online except where you have given us permission, or where the information is requested to be disclosed and is public information under the State of Florida statutes or other applicable laws. Visitors to the site should be aware that Florida Statute 119 declares that it is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records shall be open for personal inspection by any person, and thus information collected by the Miami-Dade Sheriff Office resulting from the use of its websites may be subject to examination and inspection upon request, if such information is a public record and not otherwise protected from disclosure by statute.

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, make contact by phone or in writing.

If you choose to provide us with personal information – by filling out a form with your personal information and submitting it to us through the website – we use that information to respond to your message and to help us get you the information you have requested. We only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law.

Use of Personal Information

Any personal information collected, such as an email address submitted by you for the purposes of subscribing to a newsletter, is used to get you the information you have requested. We don’t share your information with other agencies or parties, except as required by law.

Navigational Information

Information, such as the pages you visit or the links you click, helps us improve our websites and provide better service. MDSO does not use this information to identify you personally.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Office websites do not collect or store payment information. In instances where payments are processed, MDSO uses third-party service providers external to miamidade.gov to manage payments.

Mobile Device Information We Collect

• Type of browser, browser version and operating system
• Mobile device type (iPhone, Android, etc.)
• Photos and media transmitted through a mobile app
• Physical addresses or geographic coordinates 

Mobile Device Information We Do Not Collect

How We Use Mobile Device Data 

• 311 Direct
• MDPD COP

• Read Social Media Policy

Some information we gather about you is stored on “cookie,” a small file that is sent to and stored on your computer. Our website and other technologies employed as part of our web presence can read the information, such as preferences and visit history information, stored in this cookie for the purposes of providing you with a better web experience.

Some MDSO sites and pages may also employ web beacons or pixels to help us gauge and serve effective content. Beacons, clear gifs, or pixels are small, invisible images, roughly the size of a pixel, that are embedded on our web pages that collect information about your visits. The information collected this way is not used to personally identify you.

Our web sites may link to many other governmental agencies. In some cases, we link to private organizations. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of that respective site.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs commercial software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with State guidelines for records management and retention. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

In certain instances, you will have the opportunity to receive or create a password to access or submit personal information. You should not divulge your password to anyone and the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. When you are finished with those applications that are password protected, you should logout, where applicable, and exit the page.

You may decline participation in any activity that asks for information (i.e., surveys or emails). Your choice to not participate will have no effect on your ability to access information on the County's web sites.

You can adjust your browser settings to limit or block cookies. For instructions:

• Safari
• Firefox
• Edge (Internet Explorer)
• Chrome

Note that some applications and pages need cookies to store history and preference information and that disabling cookies may affect the performance of these pages and applications.

The website has links to many other governmental agencies. In some cases we link to private organizations. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.