Cops searched a national plate reader network and typed LMAO as the reason
The short version: EFF-obtained audit logs show cops typing jokes like 'LMAO' to justify running plates through Flock's nationwide network, exposing how thin the oversight really is.
Our Take
Flock Safety sells its ALPR network on the promise of accountability: every search is logged, every officer must state a reason. Flock U's breakdown of EFF's public-records haul shows what that 'accountability' actually looks like in practice — a cop typing 'LMAO' as the justification for pulling someone's location history off a national surveillance database. That's not an oversight failure at the margins. That's the system working exactly as designed, because nobody with power to stop it is actually reading these logs in real time.
This is the pattern we keep documenting: departments buy Flock promising narrow, warrant-backed use for stolen cars and Amber Alerts, then the audit trail reveals joyriding through other agencies' cameras for personal curiosity, ex-partner surveillance, or just because the box demands text and any text will do. Multiply one flippant search by the thousands of networked cameras and the tens of thousands of officers with query access nationwide, and 'audit log' stops meaning oversight and starts meaning paperwork.
Credit to Flock U and EFF for doing the unglamorous work of dragging these records into daylight — public records requests are still one of the only real checks on this technology. If you want to see how far this network reaches into your own neighborhood, check our camera map, and if your city council hasn't had this conversation yet, our take-action page has what you need to start it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Flock U, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.