Outrageous! Flock Search Reason: LOL
The short version: A viral clip shows Flock's free-text 'search reason' field let users justify ALPR lookups with flippant one-word answers, exposing how thin the audit trail really is.
Our Take
Credit to Mrs. Dave the Lawyer for digging into this one, because it confirms what critics of Flock Safety have been saying for years: the 'accountability' built into these systems is mostly theater. If a cop or analyst can type "LOL" into a justification field and still pull someone's location history from a license plate database, then the audit log isn't a safeguard — it's a formality that looks good in a press release and does nothing in practice.
This matters because the entire sales pitch for mass ALPR networks rests on the promise of oversight. Flock and its police partners constantly tell city councils and worried residents that every search is logged, reviewable, and justified. A free-text field with no real verification blows a hole in that promise. If the reason can be a joke, a lie, or a copy-pasted case number that doesn't check out, then the database is effectively open season for anyone with login credentials, and the public has no real way to know how often that happens.
Hawley surfacing this isn't just a gotcha moment — it's a reminder that these systems were deployed first and scrutinized second. Check our map to see how many cameras are already logging your plate, and head to take action if you want to push your local government for real audits instead of empty text boxes.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Mrs. Dave the Lawyer, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.