Troopers Only Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 16, 2026
Last updated: August 16, 2026

Troopers Only (“Troopers Only,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates TroopersOnly.com as a private, independent online community for eligible Virginia State Police personnel.

Troopers Only is not owned, operated, sponsored, endorsed by, or affiliated with the Virginia State Police or the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and protect it, when it may be disclosed, how long it may be retained, and the choices available to members.

1. Information We Collect

Account and Profile Information

When you create or maintain an account, we may collect your:

• Display name or username

• Email address

• Password in hashed form

• Profile information and profile image

• Notification preferences

• Member-group assignments

• Account and moderation status

• Registration and login history

Passwords are processed by the community platform and are not stored in readable form.

Eligibility and Application Information

When you apply for membership, access to a private area, or placement in a particular member group, we may collect:

• Your organization-issued work email address

• The date and time your work address was verified

• Answers provided on an application

• Application drafts

• Submission, review, approval, denial, and withdrawal records

• Communications between you and application reviewers

• Reviewer assignments

• Staff-only review notes

• Decision explanations

• Application audit history

• Records showing community permissions or member groups that were granted or revoked

Please do not submit Social Security numbers, driver’s-license numbers, financial-account information, medical records, criminal-history records, investigative information, or other confidential or law-enforcement-sensitive information unless a specific authorized form clearly requires it.

The current application system does not request identity documents or allow applicants to upload files.

Work-Email Verification Information

Some applications may require verification of an email address on an approved organization domain.

Verification uses a six-digit, time-limited code. We store only a one-way hash of an active verification code, not the readable code itself. The readable code exists temporarily so it can be sent to the work address. The code hash is cleared after successful verification or expiration.

Community Content and Communications

We collect information you choose to post or send through the community, including:

• Forum topics and replies

• Reactions and polls

• Reports submitted to moderators

• Private messages

• Attachments

• Communications with moderators or administrators

• Other content you voluntarily provide

Who may view content depends on the permissions assigned to the relevant forum, member group, application, or private conversation.

Technical and Usage Information

When you access the site, the community platform and our service providers may automatically process information such as:

• IP address

• Browser and device type

• Operating system

• Referring page

• Pages and features accessed

• Access dates and times

• Cookie and session identifiers

• Login history

• Security, diagnostic, and error logs

We use this information to operate the site, maintain sessions, prevent abuse, investigate security concerns, troubleshoot problems, and protect community accounts.

Information Received From Others

We may receive information about you from other members, moderators, administrators, or service providers. This may include member reports, moderation concerns, bounced-email notices, security alerts, and information needed to investigate suspected misuse.

2. How We Use Information

We may use information to:

• Create, authenticate, maintain, and secure accounts

• Determine eligibility for membership or private areas

• Verify control of an approved organization email address

• Review applications and communicate decisions

• Assign community permissions and member groups

• Provide forums, private messages, notifications, and other community features

• Enforce the Site Guidelines

• Investigate abuse, fraud, threats, or security incidents

• Protect the safety, rights, privacy, and security of members

• Maintain moderation, application, and security records

• Send verification, administrative, security, and community communications

• Diagnose errors and monitor site performance

• Improve the operation of the community

• Comply with applicable law and valid legal process

Application decisions affect access to Troopers Only and its community groups only. Troopers Only does not make Virginia State Police employment, discipline, promotion, assignment, certification, or collective-bargaining-representation decisions.

3. Work-Email Verification

A membership application may require you to verify control of an email address on an approved organization domain.

The verification message is sent through our configured email provider and through the systems that operate your work mailbox. Those systems may record or inspect message metadata or content under their own policies. Troopers Only does not control the privacy practices of your employer’s email system.

Successful verification shows only that a code was received at the address and entered through the applicant’s signed-in session within the permitted time. It does not independently prove:

• Identity

• Current employment

• Rank or position

• Good standing

• That the mailbox is used by only one person

• That another person did not forward the code

Troopers Only does not access your mailbox, request your mailbox password, or change the email address associated with your community account through the work-email verification process.

We do not routinely provide work addresses, membership lists, applications, or community content to the Virginia State Police. Information may be disclosed when you authorize it, when required by valid legal process, or under the circumstances described in this policy.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Troopers Only uses cookies and similar technologies necessary to:

• Keep members signed in

• Maintain secure sessions

• Remember account preferences

• Protect forms against misuse

• Prevent fraud and abuse

• Provide community features

• Monitor site security and performance

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies required for authentication or security may prevent you from signing in or using portions of the site.

If Troopers Only introduces nonessential analytics, advertising, or other tracking technologies, this policy will be updated and any legally required notices or controls will be provided.

5. How Information Is Visible Within the Community

Information may be visible to different people depending on the feature and its access permissions:

• Profile details and forum content may be visible to members permitted to access the relevant area.

• Private messages are normally visible to their participants, subject to lawful access and limited administrative access reasonably necessary to investigate abuse, maintain the service, or comply with legal obligations.

• Applications are visible to the applicant and authorized reviewers.

• Work addresses and answers marked as sensitive are visible only to reviewers with the appropriate sensitive-information permission.

• Staff-only application notes are not visible to applicants or ordinary members.

• Selected non-sensitive application information may be copied to a private staff forum when an application is configured to do so.

• Work addresses and answers marked as sensitive are not copied into companion forum topics.

Access controls reduce exposure but cannot guarantee confidentiality. A recipient may copy, photograph, forward, or otherwise disclose information.

Community discussions are not legally privileged merely because they occur in a private area. Do not post confidential, classified, investigative, personnel, medical, or law-enforcement-sensitive information.

6. When We Disclose Information

We may disclose information in the following circumstances:

Within the Community

Information is displayed according to the audience, member-group permissions, and privacy settings of the feature you choose to use.

To Authorized Community Staff

Moderators, administrators, and application reviewers may access information reasonably necessary to perform their assigned responsibilities.

To Service Providers

Hosting, database, backup, email-delivery, security, anti-spam, content-delivery, error-monitoring, and technical-support providers may process information as necessary to provide services to Troopers Only.

For Safety and Enforcement

Information may be disclosed when reasonably necessary to:

• Investigate fraud or abuse

• Respond to a credible threat

• Investigate a security incident

• Enforce the Site Guidelines

• Protect a person from imminent harm

• Protect the rights and security of the community

For Legal Reasons

Information may be disclosed when we reasonably believe disclosure is required by applicable law, a court order, subpoena, or other valid legal process, or is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

During an Organizational Change

Information may be transferred as part of a merger, reorganization, sale, or transfer of the site, subject to applicable law and appropriate confidentiality protections.

At Your Direction

We may disclose information when you request or authorize us to do so.

Troopers Only does not sell personal information. Troopers Only does not use personal information for targeted advertising across unrelated websites or services.

7. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate and secure the community, administer membership, document decisions, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and comply with legal obligations.

Retention depends on the type of information:

• Unsubmitted application drafts are normally deleted after 30 days without an update.

• Active verification-code hashes expire within the period shown when a code is requested.

• Verification-code hashes are cleared after successful use or expiration.

• Expired or consumed verification-challenge records are normally removed after 30 days.

• Submitted, approved, denied, and withdrawn applications may be retained as part of the community’s membership and decision history.

• Application answers, reviewer communications, staff notes, decisions, and audit records may remain associated with the application.

• Account, forum, message, moderation, security-log, and backup information is retained according to operational, security, continuity, and legal needs.

Deleting an account may not automatically delete every post, quoted passage, moderation record, application decision, security record, or backup copy. Where appropriate, content may be anonymized instead of removed.

Information may be retained when reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or the establishment or defense of legal claims.

8. Security

Troopers Only uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect member information. These safeguards include:

• Encrypted web connections

• Access controls

• Server-side permission enforcement

• Password hashing

• Hashed verification codes

• Verification-code expiration and attempt limits

• Anti-abuse rate limits

• Security and application audit records

No website, email system, or storage method is completely secure. Members are responsible for using a strong, unique password, protecting their accounts and devices, and promptly reporting suspected unauthorized access.

If we discover a data-security incident, we will investigate and provide notices when required by applicable law.

9. Your Choices and Privacy Requests

Depending on the information involved and applicable law, you may ask us to:

• Confirm whether we hold personal information about you

• Provide access to certain information

• Provide a copy of certain information

• Correct inaccurate account or application information

• Delete or anonymize certain information

• Close your account

• Review a decision concerning a privacy request

Some profile, notification, cookie, and communication settings may be changed directly through your account.

To submit another privacy request, use the Contact Us link available on TroopersOnly.com.

We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. A request may be denied or limited when permitted by law or when fulfilling it would:

• Expose another person’s information

• Undermine community safety or security

• Interfere with legal obligations

• Compromise fraud-prevention measures

• Remove records reasonably required to document membership or moderation decisions

• Prevent the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims

If we decline a request, you may ask us to review the decision through the same Contact Us process.

10. Children’s Privacy

Troopers Only is intended for eligible adult personnel and is not directed to children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to the site, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

11. External Links and Third-Party Services

Troopers Only may contain links to websites or services that we do not operate. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this Privacy Policy.

Members should review the privacy policies of external services before providing information to them.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the community, its features, or applicable legal requirements change.

The revised policy will be posted with a new “Last updated” date. Additional notice may be provided when a change is material or when otherwise required.

13. Contact Us

For privacy questions, requests, or concerns, use the Contact Us link available on TroopersOnly.com.