UCLA Professors Ingrid Eagly and Joanna Schwartz have an interesting new article out on SSRN about Lexipol, a private company that develops policing policy for many public agencies and which, awkwardly, is simultaneously actively lobbying against reform around police use of force. As the authors put it,
Lexipol has taken an active role in opposition to proposed reforms of police use-of-force standards. Their advocacy extends far beyond the policies and trainings it provides its subscribers. Indeed, Lexipol has disseminated its anti-reform message in blogposts, white papers, informational webinars, and other materials provided to labor unions and political organizations
One can’t help noticing the proliferation of these private agencies with their corporate hands in the public’s business. You’ve got Lexipol writing the policies, Citizen and Ring fomenting a culture of paranoia, Granicus allowing the public documents to be shipped elsewhere, Critical Incident Videos acting as the PR arm for law enforcement, and so on.