Police typed LMAO and TBD as the reason for Flock plate searches
On 14 September the Electronic Frontier Foundation showed Flock Safety plate-reader logs in which officers typed LMAO, LOL, Hehe, idk and keyboard mash as the search reason. More than 30 agencies ran more than 6300 searches marked TBD. 404 Media said a Lake County, Indiana, deputy searched more than 19000 cameras in 1558 cities with the reason LMAO. Flock replaced the free-text box with a crime dropdown in late 2025.
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LMAO, TBD and keyboard mash became the stated reason
In an analysis published on 14 September, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reviewed Flock Safety automatic license-plate reader logs. Lake County Sheriff's Department in Indiana logged LMAO as the reason in July 2025. The foundation also found LOL, Hehe, Haha, idk, blah and keyboard-mash strings. More than 30 agencies ran more than 6300 searches marked TBD; Priceville Police in Alabama alone logged 1954. The foundation wrote that the system does not require a warrant.[1]
1558 cities, 19000 cameras, reason LMAO
404 Media's Jason Koebler, writing on 14 September 2026, treated the foundation's new log review as the development. A Lake County, Indiana, sheriff's deputy searched more than 19000 cameras in 1558 cities with the reason LMAO. Richmond Police in California said officers in the Hehe and idk searches were counseled. Manteca Police said TBD has not been accepted since the start of 2026 and that an older TBD entry should not, by itself, be read as a search without a law-enforcement purpose.[2], [1]
A dropdown replaced the free-text reason box
Flock said in late 2025 that it would replace required free-text reasons with a dropdown of offence types such as Traffic infraction or Other. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote that picking a packaged label in half a second is a loss for transparency. Joke-reason logs it highlights fell sharply from early 2026, in the same period as the dropdown. Once the free-text box closed, the audit trail kept a menu label rather than the officer's own sentence.[1]
Related columns
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