On Wednesday morning, February 5, 2020 a press conference was held at the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office, where Sheriff Steve Whidden, announced the first implementation, in the Nation, of the the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) ACCESS™ Background Check System. Sheriff Whidden will also become the first Sheriff in Florida, to implement a NSA-endorsed and cutting-edge Inmate Recognition and Identification System, known as I.R.I.S.™. These innovative technologies will help to better serve and protect the citizens of Hendry County, provided at no upfront cost to the Sheriff or county.

The National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), through an innovative partnership with BI² Technologies, is implementing ACCESS, a new certified background check service, in order to help Sheriffs across the nation generate funding to address the most critical problems in their counties. The first-of-its-kind initiative with the National Sheriffs’ Association, is one that hopes to provide more than 3,000 Sheriffs across the country with a comprehensive constituent background check capability.

By implementing ACCESS, the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office will be able to offer a more convenient, secure location for citizens and organizations to obtain background checks. The service will cover a national criminal background check, national sex offender background check, terrorist watchlist, and much more. The hardware, software, implementation, installation, maintenance and support products and services required to perform fingerprint and non-fingerprint based background checks will be available to the citizens of Hendry County. In addition to improving public safety, the system will result in significant improvements in efficiency.

As part of this agreement, NSA has secured the provision through BI² Technologies, of I.R.I.S.™. This technology uses the human iris, which is the colored part around the pupil, to accurately identify a person. This is far more accurate than a fingerprint and results are provided within seconds. The I.R.I.S.™ biometric identification system will be used in the Hendry County jail, to provide fast, efficient, and accurate identification of offenders. The technology will improve the safety of the public and staff by confirming the identity of previously entered offenders. This will again be at no upfront cost to the Sheriff or county.