How pervasive is the use of Palantir in American police departments?

The use of Palantir Technologies in American law enforcement is significant and deeply embedded at the federal level, while its presence in local police departments is high-impact but concentrated in major metropolitan areas and regional "fusion centers" rather than universally present in every small town.

The following breakdown details the scope of Palantir's involvement in US policing:

1. Federal Dominance (High Pervasiveness)

At the federal level, Palantir is a primary infrastructure provider. Its software is considered "mission-critical" for several massive agencies, meaning it is not just a tool but the operating system on which their investigations run.

ICE & DHS: Palantir has multimillion-dollar contracts (some exceeding $250 million) with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its software, particularly Gotham, is used to track undocumented immigrants and facilitate workplace raids by aggregating vast amounts of data.
FBI & DOJ: The FBI and Department of Justice utilize Palantir to integrate disparate databases that were previously siloed (e.g., connecting financial records with criminal histories and travel data).
Military: While distinct from domestic policing, Palantir’s omnipresence in the DoD (Army, Marines, Special Ops) normalized its use for "intelligence-led" operations, which heavily influenced how it was marketed to domestic police.

2. Major Metropolitan Departments (Strategic Pervasiveness)

Palantir is not used by every local precinct, primarily due to its high cost. Instead, it is used by the largest and most well-funded departments to manage massive datasets.

LAPD: A long-time partner, utilizing Palantir for its "Laser" program (predictive policing) to identify chronic offenders and hot spots.
NYPD: Has used Palantir to link arrest records, license plate readers, and phone records into a searchable interface.
Chicago PD: Integrated Palantir into its gang database and predictive models.
New Orleans PD: Notably used Palantir for a secret predictive policing program (Project Nimbus) for years before it was revealed to the public and eventually cancelled.

3. The "Fusion Center" Model (Hidden Reach)

This is perhaps the most pervasive aspect of Palantir’s reach. Even small police departments that cannot afford Palantir directly often access it through Regional Intelligence Fusion Centers.

How it works: Data from hundreds of small local agencies (arrest reports, license plate scans) is fed into a regional hub running Palantir.

Example: The Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) serves ~300 different local law enforcement agencies. A deputy in a small town might not have Palantir on their dashboard, but when they run a request through the fusion center, Palantir is the engine processing that query.

4. Core Functions & Controversies

Police departments typically use two main Palantir products: Gotham (for counter-terrorism and intelligence) and Foundry (for data operations).

Function	Description	Controversy
Data Fusion	Integrates disconnected databases (DMV, criminal records, social media) into one "single pane of glass."	Privacy: Critics argue this allows for "dragnet surveillance" where unrelated data points build dossiers on innocent citizens.
Link Analysis	Visualizes relationships between people, places, and cars.	Guilt by Association: Can lead to individuals being flagged as "gang affiliates" simply due to proximity.
Predictive Policing	Uses algorithms to forecast where crimes might occur or who might commit them.	Racial Bias: Historic arrest data creates a "feedback loop" that disproportionately targets minority neighborhoods.

5. Recent Trends (2024-2025)

Rebranding: "Predictive policing" has become a toxic term due to public backlash. Palantir and agencies now often refer to these functions as "Intelligence-Led Policing" or "Data-Driven Analysis."
Contract Cancellations: Some cities (like New Orleans and Santa Cruz) have cancelled contracts following public outcry over secrecy and civil liberties.
Expansion into AI: Palantir is currently pushing its new Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) to defense and law enforcement, promising to use Large Language Models (LLMs) to assist in parsing intelligence reports and field data.

Palantir is omnipresent in federal law enforcement and the intelligence community. In local policing, it is selectively pervasive—found in the largest cities and regional data hubs that serve hundreds of smaller jurisdictions.