Hackers Leak Cop Manuals for Departments Nationwide After Breaching Major Provider

Critics accuse the company of wielding outsized private influence on public policing

Hackers leaked thousands of files from Lexipol, a Texas-based company that develops policy manuals, training bulletins, and consulting services for first responders.

The manuals, which are crafted by Lexipol's team of public sector attorneys, practitioners, and subject-matter experts, are customized to align with the specific needs and local legal requirements of agencies across the country.

But the firm also faces criticism for its blanket approach to police policies and pushback on reforms.

The data, a sample of which was given to the Daily Dot by a group referring to itself as "the puppygirl hacker polycule," includes approximately 8,543 files related to training, procedural, and policy manuals, as well as customer records that contain names, usernames, agency names, hashed passwords, physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

[...] The full dataset was provided by the hackers to DDoSecrets, the non-profit journalist and data leak hosting collective, which notes that "Lexipol retains copyright over all manuals which it creates despite the public nature of its work."

"There is little transparency on how decisions are made to draft their policies," the non-profit said, "which have an oversized influence on policing in the United States."

Some departments proactively publish their policy manuals online, while others keep them hidden from public view. One of the leaked manuals seen by the Daily Dot from the Orville Police Department in Ohio, for example, was not available online. Yet a nearly identical manual from Ohio's Beachwood Police Department can be found on the city's website.

The manuals cover matters ranging from the use of force and non-lethal alternatives to rules surrounding confidential informants and high-speed chases.

Given Lexipol's status as a private company, the widespread adoption of such manuals has led to concerns over its influence on public policing policies. The centralization, critics argue, could result in standardized policies that do not accurately represent the needs or values of local communities.

As noted by the Texas Law Review, "although there are other private, nonprofit, and government entities that draft police policies, Lexipol is now a dominant force in police policymaking across the country."

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