Home › Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice

This notice describes how Benzie County Released Inmates handles information connected with visits, searches, messages, and linked services. It identifies data a visitor supplies, technical details gathered automatically, reasons for using that information, and the limited situations in which another party may receive it. It also addresses cookies, outside websites, security, minors, individual choices, and policy changes. By using the site, a visitor accepts the practices stated here. Government offices and third-party tools follow their own privacy rules.

Information Visitors Submit

Terms Entered in Search Tools

A name, location, or other term entered into a search feature is sent to the third-party provider that operates the tool. Benzie County Released Inmates does not store or log those search terms on its own systems. The provider's privacy terms govern its receipt and processing of the query.

Messages Sent to Us

An email or contact-form message may be retained long enough to review the request, reply, keep necessary correspondence, and protect the service from misuse. Message contents are not shared outside the organization unless disclosure is required by law. Do not send sensitive booking, identity, payment, or medical information. This private site cannot pull a Benzie County Sheriff or MDOC record for a visitor.

Technical Visit Data

Routine server, analytics, and service logs may collect technical information when a page loads. This information helps describe site performance and visitor activity. It can include:

  • The visitor's Internet Protocol address.
  • The browser name, type, and version.
  • The device category and operating system.
  • The pages opened and time spent on them.
  • The referring website, when one is supplied.
  • The date and time of each request.

Cookie Choices

Cookies and similar technologies may be used to understand how visitors move through the site, remember basic settings, measure performance, and support advertising. A browser can reject, limit, or delete cookies. Blocking them may cause some functions or partner features to behave differently.

Reasons We Use Information

Collected information is used only to operate, understand, and protect the service. In practical terms, it may be used to:

  • Keep pages available, responsive, and reliable.
  • Send a submitted search to the correct partner service.
  • Learn which Benzie County record topics are most useful.
  • Detect errors, abuse, and other technical problems.
  • Display advertising that may reflect general visitor interests.

Government and Outside Links

The site links to the Benzie County Sheriff and Corrections Division, Michigan OTIS and MI-VINE, court resources, BOP and ICE tools, and other government or third-party services. Once a visitor follows a link, the destination's privacy policy and system rules apply. Benzie County Released Inmates does not control how those outside services gather, retain, disclose, or secure information.

Michigan FOIA, MCL 15.231 et seq., governs qualifying requests made to Michigan public bodies, such as a focused release-record request sent to the Benzie Sheriff. It does not turn this private site into a government records office, and it does not govern a privacy request made to this site. Court files follow court access procedures rather than an executive-agency FOIA request.

Advertising partners may use cookies or related tools on their own systems to measure activity across websites and select targeted advertising. Their collection takes place under their terms, not as a government-record function of this site.

Parties That May Receive Data

We do not sell personal information. Limited information may be provided to service providers or authorities when needed for the functions described in this notice:

  • Search partners that receive and process a submitted query.
  • Analytics providers that measure traffic and performance.
  • Advertising networks that deliver or evaluate advertisements.
  • Law-enforcement agencies or government bodies acting under a valid legal order.

Each recipient handles information according to its role, contract, legal duties, and privacy terms. A government office linked for records access does not receive a visitor's information merely because its page is mentioned.

Security Has Practical Limits

Reasonable, standard safeguards are used to reduce unauthorized access, alteration, loss, or misuse. No website, network, transmission method, or storage system connected to the internet can be guaranteed completely secure. The site therefore cannot promise that a breach, interception, or technical failure will never occur.

Visitors Younger Than Eighteen

This service is intended for adults and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. A parent or guardian who believes a minor submitted personal data should use the Contacts page to request review and deletion.

Privacy Choices and Requests

Subject to applicable law and verification, a visitor may ask what personal information is held or request an available change. Requests may include:

  • A copy of personal data maintained about the requester.
  • Correction of information that is inaccurate.
  • Deletion of information when retention is not required.
  • Opting out of certain processing when that choice applies.

These choices concern information held by Benzie County Released Inmates. They do not alter records held by the Benzie County Sheriff, a court, MDOC, MI-VINE, BOP, ICE, a search partner, or another outside source. Contact the relevant custodian under its own process for those records.

Changes to This Notice

This privacy notice may be revised when practices, services, or legal duties change. The current version will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Continued use after a revision means the visitor accepts the revised practices.