An Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation found numerous police officers logging nonsensical or joke reasons—like 'LMAO,' 'LOL,' or keyboard-mashed text—when justifying searches through Flock's nationwide license plate camera network. One Indiana officer wrote 'LMAO' before searching over 19,000 cameras across 1,500-plus cities, while an Oklahoma officer typed gibberish to access more than 83,000 cameras. When EFF followed up with departments about these entries, few offered meaningful accountability.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed an executive order requiring state agencies and state-funded police departments to limit how automated license plate readers, including Flock Safety systems, collect and store data. The order mandates deletion of most vehicle data within 30 days, bans selling or commercializing the data, restricts its use to criminal justice and lifesaving purposes, and forbids pairing the readers with facial recognition AI.
Hackers physically removed a Flock Safety license plate reader from a roadway, extracted an encryption key from its storage, and shared the recovered files with 404 Media and WIRED. The data showed the device's software identifies not just vehicles and plates but also people, bicycles, and even small details like bumper stickers, generating over a million images in just weeks of logs.
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Michael Cloud introduced the No FLOCK Act, which would cut 10 percent of a state's federal highway funding unless it restricts automated license plate readers like Flock to five specific uses, such as tracking stolen vehicles or felony suspects. The bill excludes broader applications like traffic studies or minor drug enforcement, but does not ban the technology outright or restrict sharing plate data with agencies including immigration enforcement.
An Electronic Frontier Foundation review of Flock Safety's license plate reader logs found police officers across the U.S. entering flippant or nonsensical justifications—like 'LMAO', 'LOL', 'idk' and random keystrokes—for searches spanning thousands of cameras. One Lake County, Indiana officer searched over 19,000 cameras across 1,558 cities with the stated reason 'LMAO', while more than 6,300 searches from over 30 agencies simply listed 'TBD'.
Public records reveal that law enforcement officers across multiple agencies searched Flock Safety's nationwide license-plate camera network using vague or joke-like reasons such as 'LMAO,' 'IDK,' 'hehe,' and 'asdfg' instead of legitimate case justifications. Flock's system requires officers to enter a reason before running a search, but the logs show many entries that appear to be careless or unauthorized lookups rather than tied to actual investigations.
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Michael Cloud are introducing the No FLOCK Act, which would withhold 10 percent of federal highway funding from states that don't restrict automated license-plate readers like Flock to five approved uses, including finding stolen vehicles or missing persons. The bill follows growing backlash over police misuse of the cameras but does not ban the systems outright or block sharing plate data with agencies such as immigration enforcement.
President Trump has publicly backed automated license plate reader systems made by Flock Safety, aligning himself with the surveillance technology as the midterm elections near. His support also extends to data center expansion and policies aimed at accelerating AI development without regulatory slowdown.
President Trump told reporters he supports Flock Safety, the company operating a nationwide network of over 120,000 AI-powered license plate cameras used by law enforcement. He acknowledged critics view the technology as an infringement on privacy but said he personally favors it for helping police.
A new Grand Theft Auto 5 mod called Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader, created by Morry Kolman, adds 235 fictional Flock-style cameras to Los Santos that track players' movements and report crimes to in-game police. Players can destroy the cameras using weapons like rocket launchers, earning $600 per camera based on the estimated cost of a real Flock camera's components, and can even race against a timer to beat their best destruction time.
Artist Morry Kolman released a Grand Theft Auto V mod called Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader, which scatters 235 replica Flock Safety cameras across Los Santos and rewards players $600 for each one they destroy. The mod also mimics real-world surveillance behavior, extending police chase cooldowns near cameras and occasionally triggering false police responses to mirror reported ALPR errors.
Colby Williams, 25, was arrested in Georgia on multiple felony charges including arson and criminal damage to property after police say he set fire to three Flock automated license plate readers, melting at least one down to slag. A nearby fourth camera was found riddled with bullet holes, and one melted pole bore a 'DeFlock' sticker. Investigators identified Williams partly through footage from the very cameras he allegedly destroyed.
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