Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 1, 2026 · Last Revised: October 2026

At PoliceDepartments.net, published by VORTICEPACIFICO ENGENHARIA LDA (NIF/NIPC: PT518972895, Lisbon, Portugal), we maintain rigorous technical and organizational standards to respect your privacy and protect personal data in compliance with:

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (General Data Protection Regulation / GDPR);
• Portuguese Law n.º 58/2019 (Executing GDPR in Portugal);
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA);
• United Kingdom Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR;
• Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD - Lei n.º 13.709/2018);
• Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Principles - APPs).

1. Data Controller Identification

The entity responsible for processing your personal data (the Data Controller) is:

2. Nature of Data Processed (Public Agency Directory)

PoliceDepartments.net publishes exclusively public institutional data pertaining to police commands, municipal departments, county sheriffs, and specialized public safety units. We do NOT publish private telephone numbers, residential addresses, or personal records of individual police officers or private citizens.

3. Technical Information Collected from Visitors

We do NOT require user account creation, registration, credit cards, or logins. When you access the website, our edge CDN infrastructure automatically logs limited technical telemetry strictly necessary for server operation:

• Server Log Telemetry: Truncated/anonymized IP address, operating system, browser user-agent, requested URL, HTTP status code, timestamp, and referral header.
• Voluntary Communications: When you send an email to info@vorticepacifico.com or legal@vorticepacifico.com, we collect your email address and message contents solely to respond to your specific inquiry or departmental verification request.

4. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR Art. 6)

We process data under the following lawful bases:

• Legitimate Interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): Ensuring website security, detecting and preventing malicious automated crawling or DDoS attacks, and providing citizens with accessible public safety contact records.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): Where applicable, for the deployment of non-essential third-party advertising cookies via Google AdSense.
• Legal Obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR): For compliance with statutory e-commerce, tax, and regulatory disclosures.

5. Advertising & Google AdSense Disclosures

We may display non-intrusive advertisements served by Google AdSense. Google and its advertising partners use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites on the Internet:

• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland are presented with consent choices regarding personalized vs. non-personalized advertising.
• You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or through the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out portal.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

For exhaustive technical details regarding our use of session, security, and advertising cookies, please consult our dedicated Cookie Policy.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR & International Privacy Laws

Subject to statutory limits, you possess the following rights regarding any personal data we process:

• Right of Access (Art. 15 GDPR): Confirm whether personal data concerning you is processed and receive a copy.
• Right to Rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten", Art. 17 GDPR): Request deletion of your personal data where retention is no longer justified.
• Right to Restriction of Processing (Art. 18 GDPR): Limit how your personal data is utilized during ongoing disputes.
• Right to Object (Art. 21 GDPR): Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, specifically the Portuguese Data Protection Authority (Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados - CNPD, Av. D. Carlos I, 134 - 1.º, 1200-651 Lisboa, www.cnpd.pt), or your local EU/national data protection regulator.

8. Notice to California Residents (CCPA/CPRA Do Not Sell)

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• We do NOT sell personal information of consumers.
• We do NOT share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising without consent.
• California consumers may exercise their rights of access, deletion, and non-discrimination by contacting legal@vorticepacifico.com.

9. Data Security & International Transfers

All data transmitted between your browser and PoliceDepartments.net is encrypted using TLS 1.3 cryptographic protocols (HTTPS). We use secure edge networks with strict role-based access. In the event of data transfers outside the European Economic Area, we implement European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to ensure equivalent protection.

10. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

PoliceDepartments.net is a general public safety directory not directed to children under 13 years of age (or 16 in the European Union). We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from minors.

11. Data Protection Officer (DPO) Contact Details

To exercise your rights or submit privacy-related questions, contact our dedicated compliance office:

VORTICEPACIFICO ENGENHARIA LDA
Attn: Data Protection Officer / Legal Unit
Lisbon, Portugal
Direct Email: legal@vorticepacifico.com
General Mailbox: info@vorticepacifico.com