Tech EXCLUSIVE: Hackers leak cop manuals for departments nationwide after breaching major provider Critics accuse the company of wielding outsized private influence on public policing. (Licensed)Hackers leaked thousands of files from Lexipol, a Texas-based company that develops policy manuals, training bulletins, and consulting services for first responders.Featured VideoThe manuals, which are crafted by Lexipols 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.AdvertisementAmong the manuals seen by the Daily Dot, agencies include police departments, fire departments, sheriffs offices, and narcotics units. Lexipol says on its website that it also provides services to private and public EMS, district and states attorneys, city jails, probation departments, juvenile detention facilities, campus law enforcement, tribal police, risk management associations, state regulatory agencies, and more.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.AdvertisementSome 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 Ohios Beachwood Police Department can be found on the citys 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 Lexipols 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.AdvertisementLexipol has also been criticized for its resistance to police reform. The companys manuals often exclude reform proposals such as requiring de-escalation and prohibitions on chokeholds.In remarks to the Daily Dot, a hacker from the puppygirl hacker polycule said the group targeted Lexipol because there arent enough hacks against the police.So we took matters into our own paws, the hacker said.Founded by two former police officers-turned-lawyers in 2003, Lexipol has increased its customer base significantly over the years. The company has also caught the attention of civil liberties groups that have accused Lexipol of helping violent officers evade justice by crafting policies that provide broad discretion in use-of-force situations.AdvertisementThe company has been accused of discriminatory profiling as well. In 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a letter to Lexipol demanding that it eliminate illegal and unclear directives that can lead to racial profiling and harassment of immigrants.The policies include guidelines that are unconstitutional and otherwise illegal, and can lead to improper detentions and erroneous arrests, the ACLU said at the time, highlighting directives Lexipol issued cops that indicated they had more leeway to arrest immigrants than the law allowed.The following year, the ACLU of Washington asserted that Lexipols policies led an officer in the city of Spokane to unlawfully detain and hold the victim of a car wreck to be questioned by immigration authorities.The Daily Dot reached out to Lexipol to inquire about the breach but did not receive a reply by press time.AdvertisementInternet culture is chaoticbut well break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dots web_crawlr newsletterhere. Youll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.