Law enforcement officers misuse automated license plate readers by providing nonsensical or irrelevant reasons for searches.

“Last summer, a cop with the Lake County, Indiana Sheriff’s Department used Flock’s surveillance search engine to look for a license plate across more than 19,000 cameras in 1,558 cities and towns. The cop’s stated reason for the search, according to a record of Flock’s system, was ‘LMAO.’” https://www.404media.co/cops-search-thousands-of-flock-cameras-for-reasons-of-lmao-idk-hehe-and-asdfg/

Cops Searched Thousands of #Flock Cameras for Reasons of 'LMAO,' 'IDK,' 'Hehe,' And 'Asdfg' Last summer, a cop with Lake County, #Indiana Sheriff's Dept used Flock's #surveillance search engine to look for a license plate across more than 19,000 cameras in 1,558 cities & towns. The cop's stated reason for the search, according to a record of Flock's system, was "LMAO." The cop is one of dozens who put gibberish, jokes, or other nonsense into Flock's "reason" box, highlighting the casualness & lack of care some cops have when searching an incredibly powerful surveillance system. […] "investigation," "test," or left the box blank as their search "reason," according to a new analysis by the @eff & shared with 404. EFF's investigation found cops across dozens of jurisdictions writing "LMAO," "LOL," "Hehe," "Haha," "idk," "blah," "TBD," & "robbery I don't remember the case number leave me alone" in Flock's "reason" box for searches #privacy #alpr https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/15/0032227/cops-searched-thousands-of-flock-cameras-for-reasons-of-lmao-idk-hehe-and-asdfg?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

WILD. A Lake County, Indiana sheriff’s deputy searched a license plate across more than 19,000 Flock cameras in 1,558 cities and towns. The stated reason: “LMAO.” An EFF analysis of Flock audit logs found police entering “LOL,” “idk,” “hehe,” “asdfg,” and other nonsense as justifications for searches of the company’s nationwide automated license plate reader network. Other searches simply said “investigation” or were left blank. Those logs exist because Flock recorded officers’ typed explanations, allowing public-records requests to expose questionable searches. In late 2025, Flock replaced the free-text field with prewritten options—a change EFF says reduced transparency into how police actually use the system. https://www.404media.co/cops-search-thousands-of-flock-cameras-for-reasons-of-lmao-idk-hehe-and-asdfg/ #surveillance #privacy #alpr #policing