What is PSDEX?

PSDEX stands for the Public Safety Data Exchange. It is a private database run by LexisNexis, and more than 2,400 American law enforcement agencies feed their internal records into it. In other words: when your local police department writes a report, there's a good chance a copy ends up on a company's servers, searchable by agencies you've never heard of.

How records get in

Police departments run software called a records management system, or RMS. Every report an officer writes lives there: arrests, crashes, 911 calls, witness statements, field interviews. When a department signs a PSDEX contribution agreement, LexisNexis connects to that system and copies records out on a schedule. Usually nightly, usually automatic.

No hacking involved. The department signs an addendum, IT opens a connection, and the copying starts. In Federal Way, Washington, LexisNexis emails the police department a receipt every morning confirming another day of reports was copied. The July 9, 2026 receipt logged 385 records.

LexisNexis prefers it this way. A company setup document we obtained states plainly that the vendor would rather have raw, unfiltered access to a department's entire records system than a curated slice of it.

Who's in it

Anyone named in a report. If you called 911 about a crash, a stolen bike, or a relative in a mental health crisis, the record of that call can go too, with your name attached. We documented this in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Victims and witnesses ride along with suspects, because the upload copies the report, and the report names everyone in it.

Who can search it

Agencies buy access through a LexisNexis product called the Accurint Virtual Crime Center, or AVCC. AVCC is the search screen; PSDEX is the pool behind it. Any subscribing agency can search contributed records nationwide, and that includes federal agencies. ICE pays LexisNexis $22.1 million for access.

This is how a record created in a sanctuary city can end up in a deportation case. Local police may be barred from helping federal immigration enforcement directly. The database is not. In 2024, ICE used LexisNexis to reach Belleville, Illinois records that the state's TRUST Act was supposed to wall off.

The part departments don't like to talk about

Most contribution agreements grant LexisNexis a license to the data that the department cannot take back. Portland signed one. And once records leave the building, oversight mostly stops. Downers Grove, Illinois confirmed in writing that it has no way to monitor or restrict what happens to its contributions.

So a city owns its records, licenses them away irrevocably, and can't audit what happens next. Terms like these live in contract addenda almost nobody reads. Hence the name of this site.

Where to go next

Look up whether your local agency contributes at the Accurint Files, where we publish the contracts. If we haven't covered your city, request a Local Surveillance Report. For the full investigation, read The Accurint Files feature.