A Cop Searched 19,000 Flock Cameras Across 1,558 Cities. His Reason: 'LMAO'
10 hours ago
- A police officer used Flock Safety's licence plate reader network to search for a plate with the reason 'LMAO'.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation analyzed Flock's search logs and found numerous unserious entries like 'LOL', 'Haha', 'idk', 'blah', and gibberish.
- Over 6,300 searches across 30 agencies used 'TBD' as the reason for searches.
- Flock's technology collects vehicle data from automated licence plate readers, raising privacy concerns due to lack of judicial oversight.
- In late 2025, Flock changed its system from free-text reasons to pre-populated categories, which the EFF criticized as a loss of transparency.
- Some police departments said officers were counselled or that they would investigate the unserious search entries.
- President Donald Trump publicly endorsed Flock cameras, despite concerns about infringement, as the network has grown to over 120,000 cameras.
- The 'LMAO' entry highlights broader accountability questions about oversight of police access to broad location data from surveillance networks.