Policy Central
An open-source agent for writing and reviewing policy documents. Ask it to check a manual, adapt or revise a policy, or draft a new one. It finds clauses that conflict with or repeat your other policies, and the clauses a change affects. Each finding quotes both clauses, and each change waits for your approval.
A check, start to finish. A public police directives manual with tracked edits, checked from upload to tracked changes.
It is for anyone who keeps a body of rules consistent: police policy and accreditation managers first, and the policy offices of cities, counties, agencies and universities. What it finds are suggestions for a person to check, not conclusions.
Works with: Word documents · PDFs, including scans · web pages · web search.
The beta is by invitationEach person gets their own link; nothing to install and no account. Write to support@policinglab.org for one.
Try it now
Opening to invited reviewers first
Who it is for
Ten people, ten checks. Pick one to see their situation, what they would type, and what comes back. The documents named are public.
1 of 10
Policy unit lead: a new state law
- SITUATION
- A new Florida law takes effect, most often on 1 July or 1 October. Florida’s prearrest delinquency citation law (F.S. 985.12) against Orlando PD’s citation policy, which still says “civil citation.”
- THEY ASK
- “What does our policy need to change to match 985.12?”
- THEY GET
- Tracked changes in Word, each with the law quoted.
2 of 10
Accreditation manager: before an accreditation visit
- SITUATION
- The assessors are coming. The Florida accreditation standards (CFA) against the agency’s policies.
- THEY ASK
- “Which standards don’t our policies cover?”
- THEY GET
- Every standard marked covered, partly or not found, with quotes, and a crosswalk to download.
3 of 10
Special events planner: a big event is coming
- SITUATION
- A Super Bowl, Mardi Gras or a marathon. The 2025 review of New Orleans’ Super Bowl and Mardi Gras security against the police department’s crowd, traffic and mutual-aid policies.
- THEY ASK
- “Which recommendations aren’t in our policies yet?”
- THEY GET
- Each recommendation marked covered or not found.
4 of 10
Emergency manager: before hurricane season
- SITUATION
- Hurricane season starts on 1 June. Florida’s Emergency Management Act (ch. 252) and the state law-enforcement annex against Orlando PD’s emergency operations plan.
- THEY ASK
- “Does our hurricane plan cover what state law expects of us?”
- THEY GET
- Each duty marked covered or not found, with the law and the plan quoted.
5 of 10
Legal advisor: after a court settlement
- SITUATION
- A settlement sets what the policies must say. The Minneapolis settlement agreement (2023) against the police manual’s use-of-force chapter.
- THEY ASK
- “Which paragraphs on crowd control and force don’t our policies meet?”
- THEY GET
- Every paragraph marked covered, partly or not found, with quotes, and a crosswalk to download.
6 of 10
Chief: the first 100 days
- SITUATION
- A new chief wants to know what the manual really says. From a real manual: children 12 and under are not handcuffed, against a rule that every prisoner is.
- THEY ASK
- “Where does our manual contradict itself?”
- THEY GET
- Each conflict, with both clauses side by side.
7 of 10
Neighboring agencies: a pursuit crosses the line
- SITUATION
- Officers from two agencies end up in the same pursuit. Orlando PD’s and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s vehicle pursuit policies (both 2026).
- THEY ASK
- “Where would an Orlando officer and a deputy act differently?”
- THEY GET
- The differences that matter, with both policies quoted.
8 of 10
Training lead: after a policy change
- SITUATION
- The policy changed; the lesson plans may not have. Sacramento PD’s use-of-force training against the final policy.
- THEY ASK
- “Where does our training still teach the old rule?”
- THEY GET
- Each outdated passage, with the current rule beside it.
9 of 10
Oversight board or monitor: a monitor’s report
- SITUATION
- A report says what should change. The NOPD monitor’s final report (2025) against current policies.
- THEY ASK
- “Which findings do our policies address?”
- THEY GET
- Each finding marked addressed or not found, with the policy quoted. One table both sides can read.
10 of 10
HR director: beyond policing Illustrative
- SITUATION
- State employment laws change too. A city personnel manual against Florida employment laws: domestic violence leave, E-Verify, minors’ hours.
- THEY ASK
- “What in our manual no longer matches the law?”
- THEY GET
- Tracked changes, with the law quoted.
Free during the beta
Free during the beta. Your workspace is temporary and is deleted after an hour without use.
Privacy
- Kept
- What you type, your accept and reject choices, your feedback, the organisation and role you give if you choose to, and for uploads the title, the page count and the findings’ one-line summaries.
- Not kept
- Document text, full quotes, your address. There are no accounts. Uploads are deleted with the workspace, after an hour without use.
The app runs in The Policing Lab’s own AWS account; pairs of clauses go to the ranking model through OpenRouter. Don’t upload confidential drafts.
Open source
The code will be published under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Run it on your own machine with your own model keys, or read how it works.
Research
- Policy Central: Detecting Conflicts, Redundancy, and Similarity in Deployed Police Policy (Holly Baker, Michael Kuo and Kyana Pollas, 2026): the first Policy Central system, piloted with a police department, and the benchmark used to test it.
Who made it
Policy Central is made by The Policing Lab, a nonprofit in Miami that works with police departments on data and policy.
Feedback and contact
There is a feedback button inside the app. For anything else, write to support@policinglab.org.