Digital Hygiene for Law Enforcement and First Responders

Know what is already public.

• Search your name, phone number, home address, common usernames, and family names from a device that is not logged into your accounts.
• Review people-search and data-broker sites and use their opt-out processes where available.
• Check old social-media profiles, public fitness routes, property records, public biographies, conference pages, and organization websites for unnecessary personal detail.

Reduce what you expose.

• Remove home addresses, personal phone numbers, dates of birth, family details, children’s schools, and routine locations from public profiles when they are not necessary.
• Turn off unnecessary location sharing and review photo metadata and app permissions.
• Separate public/professional and private accounts where policy permits. Avoid reusing the same username, recovery email, or profile photo everywhere.
• Ask family members to apply the same standards. A protected officer account does little if a spouse or child’s public profile reveals the household routine.

Harden the accounts that matter.

• Use unique passwords and a reputable password manager.
• Turn on multifactor authentication or passkeys wherever they are supported.
• Keep phones, computers, browsers, and apps updated.
• Be suspicious of urgent messages asking for credentials, codes, money, or sensitive details—even when they appear to come from a colleague.

If you are doxxed.

Document what happened before content disappears: screenshots, URLs, usernames, dates, and threatening messages. Notify your agency, family, and appropriate security personnel. Request platform takedowns when appropriate and report criminal threats or cybercrime through the proper law-enforcement channel. If an online threat suggests an immediate physical danger, treat it as a safety issue, not merely an internet problem.

Your digital footprint can become a targeting package. Reduce what is exposed before someone decides to build one.