GoKawiilEFF finds officers logged flippant reasons like 'LMAO' for Flock plate searches
A public records analysis by the Electronic Frontier Foundation found that police officers across the US frequently entered nonsensical or joking justifications—such as 'LMAO,' 'lol,' 'idk,' and random keystrokes—when required to explain searches of Flock's license plate reader database. The pattern spans roughly 2023 through 2026, showing that lack of accountability in these warrantless lookups is widespread rather than isolated.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Flock's system lets police reconstruct anyone's movements without a warrant, and the mandatory reason field was meant to be the main safeguard against misuse, including stalking cases already documented among officers. When Flock replaced free text with a drop-down menu, many officers reportedly just picked 'other,' suggesting the fix may have hidden abuse rather than curbed it, fueling growing municipal backlash and contract cancellations against the surveillance network.
- Officers routinely entered joke or meaningless justifications for warrantless Flock database searches.
- Flock's switch to a drop-down reason menu may have masked improper searches instead of preventing them.
- Ongoing accountability failures are driving several US towns to cancel their Flock surveillance contracts.
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Published there as: “Records show police justified Flock license plate searches with answers like "LMAO" and "idk"”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.