FAQ LEAD™ Questions
The following are questions and answers directly related to the LEAD™ program. If we haven’t answered your question, please contact us by emailing info@exceleas.com or by calling (844) 392-3532.
LEAD™ is an acronym and stands for Law Enforcement Applicant Database. It is an online program that supports law enforcement agencies nationwide with applicant information sharing and processing, recruitment tools, employment advertising, background investigation tools, cost savings, and public relations efforts.
LEAD™ is not just a database, as its name may suggest. LEAD™ is the way for law enforcement agencies to connect and advance recruitment initiatives at a level never offered before.
Applicants registering in LEAD™ do so in a secure portion of the site. The program relies on Secured Socket Layer (SSL) technology to establish an encrypted link between the server and your web browser. This ensures that all data passed between LEAD™ and your devices remains private. Millions of websites throughout the world use SSL encryption because it is the industry standard.
The program also utilizes Google reCAPTCHA technology to distinguish between human and automated users (e.g., malicious bots) when registering accounts, logging in, and changing passwords.
Besides incorporating internet security protocols, applicants’ information is never viewable to the public. Only law enforcement agencies have access to this information. LEAD™ does not require applicants to supply information vital to identity thieves when registering, such as driver license numbers or full social security numbers.
We host the LEAD™ program on Microsoft® Azure Government, one of the most secure and trusted servers in the world, available only to US federal, state, and local governments, including partnering providers. Azure Government is a completely sovereign instance of Microsoft® Azure (trusted by 95% of Fortune 500 companies1), with data centers located entirely inside the continental United States and managed by screened American citizens. Your secure data never leaves the country.
Of its many certifications, Azure Government complies with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), US DoD Impact Levels 4-6, and the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) standards for cloud data storage.
1 Microsoft Azure: The only consistent, comprehensive hybrid cloud | Microsoft®
We believe it can. Please view a detailed explanation of savings benefits associated with the LEAD™ program on our Savings Potential page.
Please view a detailed explanation of recruitment benefits associated with the LEAD™ program on our Recruitment Advantages page.
LEAD™ is available to all state, county, city, regional, local, school, tribal, and other law enforcement agencies with sworn personnel having statutory arrest powers. If you are unsure your agency qualifies for LEAD™, please contact us by emailing info@exceleas.com or by calling (844) 392-3532.
Registration is an online process. It is straight-forward and easy to complete. Your agency executive (Chief of Police, Sheriff, Superintendent, Commissioner), or his/her designee, must approve and complete registration.
Agencies will register with their official name, ORI number, headquarters address (and billing address, if different), and phone number(s). We also require the name and title of the agency executive and the total number of sworn personnel.
Upon completing the registration, EXCELEAS® will verify your agency’s participation by phone contact. Once approved, we will send your agency registrant a confirmation link, permitting access to the secure site. From there, you can manage your profile, add/edit/delete users, post job advertisements, and revise other information as needed.
No. LEAD™ is a cloud-based program. There is no need for costly and time-consuming IT technicians to install software on your devices. It simply requires internet access, and we handle the data storage costs. Once registered, agencies can access a secure portion of the site to view applicant information and other unique features.
No. Some Records Management Software companies charge license fees for each device used. You can access LEAD™ from as many devices as desired, all for the yearly agreement fee. LEAD™ runs anywhere you have an internet connection.
As many as you require. There are no fees charged for additional users. Your annual agreement covers this. If you are a large agency with a sizeable recruitment division, you may have twenty or more employees accessing the program. It’s up to you.
Please view our Pricing Information page for an explanation of fees associated with the LEAD™ program.
We assess larger agencies higher fees because of the massive amount of data they generate and the storage space it requires. This includes multiple agency users and many applicants accessing the program, advanced IT support, third-party integration costs, and other factors. These increase operational and maintenance costs. Our goal is to assure fluid and reliable service when using LEAD™.
Yes. Please view our Discounts & Incentives page for an explanation of discounts and incentives offered with the LEAD™ program.
Applicants register themselves on the LEAD™ site. Your organization will notify candidates they must register with LEAD™ as part of your hiring process. We recommend including this information in your employment advertising and in recruiting information posted online.
EXCELEAS® provides your agency with a welcome kit that includes a template with dialogue to use when revising your website/social media content. We also provide an applicant registration guide to include with your application packets or link to hiring documents available to candidates, though the process is straightforward.
Agency personnel will view or print a list of their applicants to verify candidates at hiring functions. Applicants also receive an emailed registration confirmation to provide your agency. They can print the confirmation, or it is viewable from phone screens.
No problem. We recommend agencies bring a laptop with internet access to their testing site and instruct applicants to arrive early for check-in. Applicants failing to register can do so on site. They can also register on cellular devices that have internet access. The process takes less than three minutes to complete.
Often, smaller agencies take part in testing consortiums to increase candidate numbers. This is not an issue. When an applicant registers, they register with each agency they are applying to (if those agencies take part in LEAD™), and receive separate registration confirmation emails.
Yes. Upon registration with LEAD™, you can provide us with your agency’s job application. For a onetime fee, we customize an online application process for your candidates. You can review everything before you open your initial application period using LEAD™.
Applicants will complete and electronically sign your job application. We store all submitted documents in your agency’s dashboard for retrieval and viewing.
If your agency has other forms that involve manual completion, such as medical clearance forms for physical agility tests, or documents requiring notarization, we can make them available to download.
If you choose not to use our online application process, you can still attach downloadable hiring documents to your advertisement. You can also upload recruiting videos and include a link to an online application that uses a third-party site. Upon successful registration, LEAD™ will redirect the candidate to your online application page.
Yes. Candidates can register and then pay your application fee using LEAD™. Once your application period has concluded, LEAD™ will remit to your agency all fees collected.
We add a small surcharge for each candidate to use this feature, which offsets collection fees we’re responsible for. Please view our Pricing Information page for more details.
If your department tests with other agencies and uses a consortium to collect fees, contact us and we can try to resolve any issues to collect payments.
There are online companies offering job posting capabilities and a direct application process, a practical but old concept. Career sites are available to employers in all different fields around the world, through industry giants like Monster® and Indeed®. A few small ones specialize in the public safety sector.
LEAD™ is remarkably different from standard career sites. This is just a minor aspect of what comes with the program. We offer this service as a convenience tool for agencies that never used online applications, or for agencies paying a standard career site for this benefit, but not getting the full potential of LEAD™.
LEAD™ focuses on collaboration between law enforcement agencies, special interest groups, and schools across America. LEAD™ has several tools to assist agencies with recruitment efforts, advertising, background investigations, community relations, and cost savings.
Some of the largest agencies have online hiring portals and only require advertising services. Agencies of all sizes have needs addressed by LEAD™, some that exist nowhere else. This makes LEAD™ unique, and it’s how we connect agencies to strengthen the law enforcement profession. LEAD™ agencies work together to increase the program’s effectiveness.
No. Many reputable companies offer this service. Most concentrate on smaller regions within states, and many large agencies handle testing in-house. We cannot maintain a physical presence in all fifty states, and thus would not extend a service to some agencies and not others.
LEAD™ provides a unique service to meet the demands of all United States law enforcement agencies. No other program offers the features we incorporated into ours. Some of our unique features only exist in LEAD™. We extend all elements of our program nationwide, with the focus on connecting agencies. EXCELEAS® will only offer programs for use throughout America, never sacrificing our high standards for quality.
Applicants register with specific identifying information, such as their full name, date of birth, last four numbers of their social security number, and the zip code they live in. This ensures their unique identity and avoids the possibility of duplicate entries.
We also ask applicants to select their gender1, race2, highest education level completed, and any languages spoken (other than English). The program collects this information to assist agencies with recruitment efforts, through the use of our Statistical Tracking of Applicant Trends (STAT™) feature. Agency users see other law enforcement agencies an applicant has applied with, and if the applicant is “Offered Employment” by any.
1 & 2 Supplying this information is voluntary and not required.
No. LEAD™ does not provide negative information associated with an applicant’s experience with an agency, such as being disqualified during a background investigation, terminated from employment, failing exams, or other reasons.
We only list applicants’ identifying information, LEAD™ agencies the applicant applied with, and offers of employment. None of these facts violate the applicant’s right to privacy. It is information almost all agencies ask their candidates to supply on hiring documents (e.g., applications and background questionnaires).
All applicants must read and agree to LEAD’s™ Terms and Conditions when registering with law enforcement agencies in the program. This notifies them on how we share their information with other agencies using the program.
Your agency may contact another LEAD™ agency while investigating a candidate’s background, though we have no involvement with this.
Since there is no adverse information associated with an applicant, they permanently remain in the database. If an unforeseen circumstance warrants their removal, please file a LEAD™ Technical Support Ticket, and we will consult with your agency to remove them.
Yes, but we believe most law enforcement agencies probably use these measures. Foremost, ensure that candidates are completing a background investigation waiver when they apply, granting access to all records, regardless of confidentiality. LEAD™ also requires your applicants read and agree to thoroughly crafted Terms and Conditions when registering.
Also, we strongly encourage you to ask applicants to list other agencies they have applied with, and to provide the status of those applications. They can supply this information in your application for employment or your background questionnaire forms.