Lexipol: The Privatization of Police Policymaking

01/01/2018 Scholarship

By Joanna C. Schwartz, Ingrid V. Eagly & Campaign Zero

Study: The conduct of American police is never far from the front page of the news. A wide range of policing issues—such as use of force, racial profiling, stop and frisk, roadblocks, Tasers, body cameras, and immigration policing—have garnered significant attention from community members, courts, advocacy organizations, and law enforcement agencies. Much of the discussion about improving police practices has focused on how best to regulate police conduct. Gaining increasing traction in this discussion is the view that comprehensive internal police policies can guide the opaque and largely discretionary conduct of the police. Those engaged in these
discussions appear to assume that police departments, local governments, and nonprofits will play leading roles in the creation of police policies. However, the most significant national player in policing policy today is a private limited liability corporation—Lexipol LLC—that has, to date, received
almost no scholarly attention.