Privacy Policy

1. Summary

LEAware is a professional tool for sworn officers, telecommunicators, and civilian staff of law enforcement and public safety agencies that license our software. It is not a consumer app and is not available to the general public.

In plain terms:

• We do not sell your data. We do not share it with data brokers or advertisers.
• There is no advertising and no advertising identifier. The app explicitly removes the advertising-ID permissions that Firebase would otherwise declare.
• There is no third-party analytics or ad SDK in the app.
• Location is recorded continuously only while you are recording a K9 deployment track, and never at any other time. Everywhere else in the app, location is read only at the moment you tap a location button. A track runs from when you tap Start to when you tap End, shows a permanent notification on Android and the blue status bar on iOS, and stops the moment the track ends.
• Records data belongs to your agency, not to us. We hold it on your agency's behalf.

2. Two different kinds of information

This policy distinguishes between two categories, because different rules apply to each.

a) Agency Data. The law enforcement records you view and create in LEAware — incidents, arrests, warrants, citations, field contacts, case files, evidence records, intelligence reports, confinements, calls for service, and the personal information about members of the public contained in them. Your agency owns and controls this data. We process it solely as a service provider under our contract with your agency, and we act on your agency's instructions. If you are a member of the public asking about a record an agency holds about you, contact that agency directly; we cannot release, correct, or delete agency records on our own initiative. Requests we receive for such records are referred to the agency.

b) App and Account Data. Information about you as a user of the application — your account identity, device, and app settings. We act as the controller of this limited set of data. It is described in Section 3.

3. Information the app collects

3.1 Account and identity

• Name, email address, and password credentials, managed through Google Firebase Authentication. Passwords are handled by Firebase and are never stored by the app in readable form.
• Your agency identifier, assigned role, and permission set, used to determine which modules and records you may access.
• Your locally cached email address and agency ID, stored on the device so the app can restore your session.

3.2 Content you create

• Reports, narratives, forms, and drafts you write, including intelligence reports, quick-intel submissions, field contacts, citations, incident entries, trespass notices, K9 daily care and deployment records, and evidence check-in and check-out entries.
• Photographs you take or attach from your photo library.
• Handwritten signatures captured on the device for forms that require them.
• Barcode scan results, including driver's license (AAMVA) and vehicle registration barcodes, when you use the scanning features.
• Drafts saved locally on the device before submission.

3.3 Device and technical information

• Device model, operating system version, application version, and build number.
• Push notification token, so your agency's system can deliver alerts to your device.
• Notification permission status and preferences, including quiet-hours settings.
• Diagnostic reports that you generate yourself from Profile → Diagnostics, which bundle the above technical details for support purposes. These are created at your request and shared only when you choose to send them.

3.4 Location

There are two distinct cases, and they are treated differently.

Single fixes. Most of the app reads your location only at the moment you tap a control that stamps a record with where an event occurred — K9 deployment capture and nearby-report features. If you decline the permission, the feature degrades to entering the location by hand.

K9 deployment track recording. When a K9 handler taps Start on the deployment track screen, the app records a continuous trail of position fixes until they tap End. This is the route the dog worked, and it forms part of the deployment record.

Because a dog can work for a long time and the handler cannot keep the phone awake and open while doing so, this recording continues when the screen is off and when the app is in the background:

• On Android it runs as a foreground service with a permanent notification saying the track is recording. The app does not request the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission.
• On iOS it uses the location background mode with the blue status bar visible throughout. Authorisation is "while in use"; the app does not request "always" location.

Recording starts only on an explicit tap, stops on an explicit tap, and never begins on its own. Nothing is recorded outside a running track. Track points are stored on the device until they are uploaded to your agency's K9 system, and are then held by your agency as part of that deployment record.

3.5 Camera and photos

The camera is used to take photos for reports and to scan barcodes. On Android, selecting an existing photo uses the system Photo Picker, which grants access to the single item you pick — the app does not request broad media or storage permissions. On iOS, photo library access is requested only when you attach an existing photo.

3.6 Biometrics

If you enable biometric app lock, Face ID, Touch ID, or Android biometric authentication is used to unlock the app. Biometric matching happens entirely on your device through the operating system. We never receive, see, or store your fingerprint or face data.

3.7 Usage and security logs

Server-side logs of sign-in events, queries, record access, and submissions are maintained for security, audit, and accountability purposes, consistent with CJIS audit requirements. Your agency has access to these logs.

4. Wellness features

LEAware includes optional officer wellness features: self-assessments, check-ins, chat with peer or support staff, and resource links. These deserve specific treatment because they concern mental health.

• Assessments are anonymous by default. Results are presented for your personal awareness.
• Chat sessions offer an anonymity choice. When you choose anonymous mode, the session is identified by a random ID and support staff do not see your name. Your identity may still be inferable from what you choose to write, so use judgment.
• Wellness content is not a medical record created by a covered entity, and LEAware is not a HIPAA-covered health care provider. If your agency has arranged for licensed clinicians or an employee assistance program to receive this information, their own confidentiality obligations apply, and your agency should tell you what those are.
• Aggregate, de-identified wellness trends may be made available to your agency to gauge program participation and overall need. These are designed not to identify individual users.
• Wellness features are not an emergency service. See the Terms of Service for crisis resources.

5. How information is used

We use the information described above to:

• authenticate you and enforce your agency-assigned permissions;
• deliver the records, search results, and alerts you request;
• transmit and store the reports and content you submit to your agency's systems;
• send push notifications you or your agency have enabled;
• maintain security, detect misuse, and produce audit trails;
• diagnose faults and provide technical support; and
• meet legal obligations and your agency's contractual requirements.

We do not use Agency Data or App and Account Data to train advertising models, to build consumer profiles, or for any purpose unrelated to providing the service to your agency.

6. What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• We do not display advertising in the app.
• We do not collect an advertising identifier. The Android build explicitly removes com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID and the related Ad Services permissions that would otherwise be inherited from Firebase.
• We do not include a third-party analytics or attribution SDK.
• We do not collect location in the background except while a K9 deployment track is actively recording, which only a handler can start and only from the track screen. We do not request Android's ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission or iOS "always" location authorisation, and we do not track location when no track is running.
• We do not request broad photo library or external storage permissions on Android.

7. Who we share information with

Your agency. Everything you submit is available to your agency and its authorized personnel, including supervisors and administrators. Nothing in LEAware is private from your employing agency except as described in Section 4.

Service providers. We use a limited set of providers to run the service:

These providers are bound to use the data only to provide their service to us.

Legal and safety. We may disclose information when required by law, subpoena, or court order, or where necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of users, your agency, or the public. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we will notify your agency of compelled disclosure of its data.

Business transfers. If our business or the relevant product line is acquired or merged, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to the commitments in this policy and to our agency contracts.

8. Storage, security, and retention

• Data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS).
• The app enforces an inactivity session timeout, thirty minutes by default and configurable, after which you must reauthenticate. Optional biometric app lock adds a second barrier on the device.
• Access to records is constrained by the role and permission set your agency assigns.
• Server infrastructure and access practices are designed to align with the FBI CJIS Security Policy as it applies to our role as a service provider to criminal justice agencies. Specific safeguards, personnel screening, and audit commitments are set out in the CJIS Security Addendum and other agreements between us and your agency.
• Retention of Agency Data follows your agency's retention schedule and our contract with your agency. Criminal intelligence records are subject to additional review and purge requirements, including 28 C.F.R. Part 23 where it applies. Account and device records are retained for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward for audit and legal purposes.
• No system is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you must follow your agency's security rules, including device passcodes, prompt reporting of lost devices, and not sharing credentials.

9. Your choices

• Permissions. Camera, photos, location, notifications, and biometrics can each be granted or revoked at any time in your device settings. The app is built to degrade gracefully when a permission is refused.
• Notifications. Categories and quiet hours are configurable in the app under notification preferences.
• Wellness anonymity. You choose per chat session whether to be identified.
• Account changes and deletion. Accounts are provisioned and deprovisioned by your agency. To correct your profile information, close your account, or ask what data is held about you, contact your agency administrator. If you contact us directly at support@southernsoftware.com, we will route the request to your agency and assist them in responding.

10. State privacy laws

Where laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA), the Virginia CDPA, or similar state statutes apply, we act as a service provider / processor with respect to Agency Data and process it only under our agency's documented instructions and our contract. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined in those laws. Note that records held by government agencies, and records subject to criminal justice exemptions, are often excluded from these statutes' scope. Individuals seeking to exercise rights over agency records should direct those requests to the agency that holds them.

11. Children

LEAware is a workplace tool for adult public safety personnel. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children as app users. Agency records processed in the app may, in the ordinary course of law enforcement business, contain information about juveniles; that information is Agency Data governed by the agency's own legal obligations and by applicable juvenile records law.

12. International use

The service is intended for use by agencies in the United States, and information is stored and processed in the United States.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date above, and for material changes we will notify agencies through the ordinary support and release channels. Continued use of the app after an update takes effect constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy.

14. Contact

Southern Software, Inc. 150 Perry Dr, Southern Pines, NC 28387 Privacy inquiries: support@southernsoftware.com Product support: pssupport@southernsoftware.com

Related: Terms of Service