An Israeli surveillance technology company that sells voice recording, video, and other surveillance tools to US police departments and prisons.
NICE Ltd. (Neptune Intelligence Computer Engineering) is an Israeli surveillance technology company that specializes in phone, video, and internet monitoring. The company serves corporate and government clients in over 150 countries and has several U.S.-based subsidiaries, including NICE Systems Inc., headquartered in Hoboken, N.J.
NICE markets and sells its voice recording and video surveillance tools to U.S. prisons and police departments. It also provides prison and police agencies with analytical software used to analyze and organize mass amounts of recorded data.
Monitoring Prison Phone Calls
NICE’s phone and video monitoring technology has been used to monitor the phone calls of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons. The company offers a keyword search tool, Nexidia AudioFinder, that scans and organizes phone call recordings made from within prisons and jails. It creates “watchlists,” which notify prison guards, attorneys, and police officers whenever a specific word is used during a call or whenever a specific person uses a specific word. This voice monitoring technology also analyzes tone of voice, excitement, and behavior, and then translates this information into searchable data for prison guards and police officers. This system was originally developed by Nexidia, an analytics software company that NICE acquired in 2016.
NICE’s Nexidia AudioFinder is used as an integrated feature for the largest U.S. prison communication services companies. ViaPath Technologies (formerly GTL), the second-largest U.S. prison communications company, has offered Nexidia AudioFinder as part of its services to state prison authorities since at least 2011. Inmate Calling Solutions (ICSolutions), the third-largest U.S. prison communications provider, integrated NICE’s technology into its system in 2012, and in 2017 stated that it was in use at “nearly three dozen” prisons. Similarly, before being acquired by Lumen Technologies and divesting its prison phone services, CenturyLink integrated NICE’s technology into its prison communications services.
NICE also has a product called NICE InContact, which is used by law enforcement agencies to automate and optimize their call centers using voice biometrics. In 2018, for example, NICE InContact was integrated into the State of Michigan’s call center through a partnership with Accenture. The call center supported multiple state agencies, including Michigan’s “e-carceration” (electronic monitoring) program.
Policing Technologies
One of NICE’s main business sectors is its Public Safety and Justice sector, which consists of services and products designed for the needs of police departments, prisons, and criminal courts in the U.S. and worldwide. For example, NICE provides police departments with its NICE Investigate platform, digital policing software designed for streamlining evidence collection. Other such products include NICE’s AI-powered Evidencentral platform, used by police to collect, analyze, share, and manage surveillance data. The platform includes tools like automated face detection, video and audio transcription works on any recorded conversations (from body-worn and CCT video, interview room recordings, and more), universal text search, and more.
According to the company, these technologies are used by more than 3,000 “public safety” organizations. For example, NICE products have been used by police departments in Alabama; Charleston, S.C.; Cleveland, UK; Jersey City, N.J.; Las Vegas; New York City; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. In addition, Motorola Solutions uses NICE’s recording and analyzing software in the radio systems that it provides to law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department.
Past Involvement in Prison Video Surveillance
Until 2015, NICE’s video surveillance technology, NiceVision, was marketed to and used in prisons and jails throughout the U.S. As of 2009, NiceVision video surveillance had been deployed in 56 prisons across the country. NICE’s Physical Security Unit sold NiceVision, as well as communication-based intelligence technology, to prisons, police, and intelligence agencies.
One of NICE’s clients was the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department in Arizona. NiceVision was deployed in Maricopa County jails as part of a jail upgrade project conducted by then Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2013 and by the ACLU in 2007 and was found guilty of discriminatory policing against Latinx individuals, unconstitutional detention of Latinx immigrants, and retaliating against his critics. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department started using NiceVision in its jails in 2000 and spent $2.5 million on the technology in 2017 alone.
In 2015, NICE sold its Physical Security unit. Its Cyber and Intelligence business, which provides prisons, police, and intelligence agencies with tools to monitor communications, was acquired by Elbit Systems. The rest of the Security Unit, which consisted of NICE’s video surveillance tools including NiceVision, was acquired by private equity firm Battery Ventures and rebranded as Qognify.