California Law Enforcement Policy Manuals

This map shows California law enforcement agencies (city-level proximity) that participate in the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). (Interactive map: Claudia Engel)

KSR, in collaboration with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is in the process of gathering policy and training manuals from California law enforcement agencies. The information in these manuals specifies policing practices and gives insight into how police are trained to react in the field. 

Our partners at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) supported the passage of the Senate Bill 978, which required California law enforcement agencies to publish these policies. The bill became fully effective in January 2020 requiring law enforcement agencies to "conspicuously post on their Internet Web sites all current standards, policies, practices, operating procedures, and education and training materials that would otherwise be available to the public if a request was made pursuant to the California Public Records Act.” Not all agencies have complied. We have worked with the EFF to file public records requests for access to the policies.

The map to the left indicates which California law enforcement agencies did not make their policies available as of April 26, 2021. The map also indicates which of the collected policies are based on Lexipol's model policy. Lexipol, once a small company based in Orange County, has become the leading national law enforcement policymaker. The company created the model policy that is used by 95% of California law enforcement agencies (read more). The influence of Lexipol on law enforcement policy is important to scholars and legal experts because Lexipol promotes its policies as a risk management tool that can reduce legal liability, rather than a tool to improve officer decision-making.  (See Eagly, Ingrid V., and Joanna C. Schwartz. "Lexipol: The privatization of police policymaking." TEx. L. REv. 96 (2017): 891.)