Police Data Pipelines

Local police agencies share data with private brokers and federal law enforcement through software license agreements most of them never publicly disclose. We track which agencies, which contracts, and where the data goes.

The Investigation

Accurint Files

340+ agencies across 38 states, mapped to their LexisNexis contracts. Search by jurisdiction, see the exact addendum language, and find out whether your local department is contributing to PSDEX. Updated as FOIA returns come in.

Open Accurint Files →

The Reciprocity Trap

Local agencies pay for LexisNexis software access by contributing their own records — arrests, license plate reads, incident reports, case files. This makes the data share an invisible cost of the license, buried in addendum language and never separately voted on by city councils.

Once signed, contribution is often irrevocable. An agency that cancels its LexisNexis subscription cannot retrieve the data it has already contributed. Federal agencies including ICE and the DEA access the pooled database through their own subscriptions — no warrant required, no local approval needed.

We call this the Reciprocity Trap. Agencies with explicit sanctuary policies are active PSDEX contributors because the data sharing was never framed as data sharing in the documents their councils reviewed.

What We Track

—Which agencies contribute data to PSDEX through LexisNexis license addendums
—The specific contract language that authorizes data contribution — and what it actually permits
—Agencies in sanctuary jurisdictions that are active PSDEX contributors
—State cooperative purchasing agreements that bundle PSDEX access without explicit local approval
—Federal agency access to local police data through Accurint subscriptions
—FOIA responses — what agencies disclose, what they withhold, and what patterns emerge

Recent Findings

View all findings →

Key Documents

Primary source documents will appear here as they are processed.

Project Questions

Open questions we are working to answer.

If you have documents, sources, or leads that speak to any of these questions, we want to hear from you.

Send a tip →

1
Which Illinois law enforcement agencies have signed the AVCC XML addendum that enables automated PSDEX contribution?
2
Does Connecticut operate a Virtual Crime Center equivalent outside of the standard PSDEX pipeline?
3
Which DHS Safe Cities grant recipients explicitly used funds for PSDEX-compatible data sharing infrastructure?
4
How many Motorola CommandCentral customers contribute to PSDEX?
5
What happens to data about minors? Does it feed into LexisNexis? Is it filtered at the RMS level or within PSDEX? Are there profiles on minors, or does the data become available to subscribers when the minor turns 18?
6
Are there FERPA implications for university law enforcement agencies contributing data to PSDEX?
7
Are there student data concerns about K-12 law enforcement entities contributing data to PSDEX?
8
Who are the 2,100 agencies that LexisNexis claims contribute to PSDEX? How many contribute to the national exchange versus sharing only with consortium members?
9
Do Accurint for Law Enforcement subscribers have access to PSDEX data?
10
Do private investigators, corrections agencies, regulatory bodies, and military personnel have access to PSDEX data?
11
What auditing and abuse detection mechanisms are in place for AVCC and PSDEX data?
12
How do Public Safety Marketplace apps interact with PSDEX data? Can add-ons access PSDEX data directly?
13
How are Public Safety Marketplace apps billed — directly through the vendor, or does the agency's LexisNexis bill increase?
14
Why does LexisNexis require a worldwide, irrevocable license to data contributed to PSDEX?
15
Are any PSDEX contributions available to foreign entities?
16
What specific fields are shared from a local RMS to PSDEX? Does that include witness, victim, and bystander information?

Know something? We keep sources confidential and protect documents.

Send a tip →