Privacy in Florida for first responders
What state law protects, what still leaks, and what we sweep beyond it.
§119.071 (post-2024) very broad personnel exemption, but no enacted broker-removal analog. SB 1064 pending.
Attorney General Address Confidentiality Program
Florida maintains a state-level program that lets eligible officers, judges, and other protected workers use a substitute address for public records.
Apply or learn more →Public-records carve-outs
- F.S. §119.071(4)(d): home addresses, telephones, dates of birth, photographs, and information identifying the names and locations of children of active or former sworn law enforcement, firefighters, judges, prosecutors, and many other categories are exempt from the Public Records Act on written request.
- F.S. §119.071(2)(j): autopsy photos, body-camera footage in private spaces, and certain investigative records have additional exemptions that protect identifying information.
- Marsy's Law (Article I, §16, FL Constitution): extends victim privacy rights to crime victims; the Florida Supreme Court ruled in November 2023 (City of Tallahassee v. FPBA) that Marsy's Law does NOT give officer-victims a categorical right to withhold their names from disclosure.
Applicable laws
What protects you in Florida
Florida's main protection is Florida Statute §119.071(4)(d). It lets active and former sworn law enforcement, firefighters, judges, prosecutors, correctional officers, certified EMTs, code enforcement officers, and many other public servants keep certain personal information out of public records. The protected fields are your home address, phone number, date of birth, photograph, and the names and locations of your children. The same protection covers your spouse and children.
The exemption is opt-in. File a written, notarized request with each agency that holds your records. Once it is on file, that agency cannot release the listed fields in response to a public-records request.
This closes the door at the agency. It does not reach the private data brokers that already copied your information from public sources.
File separately for these records
The main exemption does not automatically flow to every office that holds your address. File with each of these directly.
Property appraiser: Every Florida county property appraiser publishes deeds, tax data, and ownership records online for free, and brokers scrape them. File a separate address-exemption request with your county property appraiser. The form and process vary by county.
Driver and vehicle records: File HSMV Form 96020, the "Request to Withhold Personal Information" form, with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to withhold your personal information from your driver and vehicle records under §119.071. The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act also limits who can buy motor-vehicle data.
Voter registration: Your voter record lists your home address and is public by default. Eligible public servants can file a confidentiality request with their county Supervisor of Elections to exempt it under §119.071(4).
Address Confidentiality Program: The Florida Attorney General runs a substitute-address program for victims of domestic violence and stalking. Participants get a mailing address that keeps their real one away from an abuser or stalker. Eligibility is limited, so confirm the current program link and rules with the Attorney General's office before applying.
Marsy's Law no longer shields your name
Florida voters passed Marsy's Law in 2018 as a constitutional amendment for crime victims. For a few years, some agencies used it to redact an officer's name from incident reports when the officer was the victim of an assault.
That changed on November 30, 2023. In City of Tallahassee v. Florida Police Benevolent Association (SC2021-0651), the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Marsy's Law gives no victim, officer or civilian, a categorical right to withhold their name from disclosure. Officer-name redaction under Marsy's Law alone is no longer reliable. Other location-identifying protections under §16(b) may still apply case by case, so talk to your department legal before relying on it.
The 2026 legislature considered SB 1064 and HB 1027 to add new protections for public servants, including a data-broker opt-out and a short confidentiality window for an officer's name after an assault. Both bills died in committee on March 13, 2026. Confirm the status of any successor bill before relying on it.
What still leaks
Even with §119.071 protections on file, two public sources stay open, and the brokers stay open.
Court filings. Florida courts publish dockets county by county, and many counties post full case files online. Civil suits, divorce, and traffic cases can all include your home address in the filings. The §119.071 election does not reach court records without a separate motion.
Data brokers. Florida law controls what Florida agencies disclose. It does not reach Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and similar sites, which pull from out-of-state aggregators and commercial feeds. Florida has no data-broker removal statute for public servants.
What we handle that the state doesn't
The state exemptions stop at the agency. The data brokers are our job.
We find your listings across people-search sites, file the standard opt-outs, and keep checking for records that come back. In Florida, county property appraisers publish new ownership records online as soon as a home changes hands, and brokers scrape them, so an address can get re-listed after you buy. When we find one, we file again.
We handle most of the process. When a site needs something only you can provide, such as a copy of your ID, we tell you clearly.