A private company that supplies 3,500 public safety agencies in 35 states with draft policy manuals that critics call inadequate is seeking to capitalize on a mandate in New York that all police agencies rethink their policies, the Intercept reports. Lexipol, a California-based consulting firm, on July 30 held a webinar in partnership with the New York State Association of Chiefs of Policy as it promotes its brand of privatized policymaking.
In June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo set an April 2021 deadline for the state’s more than 500 police agencies “to develop a plan that reinvents and modernizes police strategies and programs in their community based on community input.” Failure to do so, his executive order stated, could reduce departments’ state funding. Joanna Schwartz, a professor at the UCLA School of Law who has closely studied the company, said Lexipol’s involvement could undercut the purpose of policing reform. An ACLU attorney, Carl Takei, said “the entire policy philosophy” of the company is to draw lines sticking strictly to legal standards without adequate operational guidance for officers. The company also has taken a stand against de-escalation policies, regulating the use of force, and policies against shooting into moving vehicles. Lexipol’s copyrighted policies have largely replaced free draft policies that were previously circulated by law enforcement associations.