Cops Search Flock Database for Reasons Such as "LMAO," "LOL," and Random Keyboard Mashing

An investigation by the EFF found that cops treat mass surveillance as a joke, typing reasons for searches such as "LMAO," "LOL," and other non sequiturs or keyboard mashing in leu of an actual reason.

The EFF obtained Flock Safety ALPR search data via public records requests and found within their tables of database accesses a disturbing trend of cops not giving proper reasons for accessing sensitive surveillance data.

Several other reasons listed include "haha," "hehe," and "idk lol." The brazen nonchalantness with which the police officers searched people's license plates shows how little these police departments care about invading the privacy of regular citizens.

Among the reasons listed are also straight up keyboard mashing such as "gyghkkghghjkghjk." Clearly the reason field is just seen as an annoyance rather than a chance to stop and ask if it's really necessary to access the data.

And it is a department-wide problem and not just a few bad apples. The EFF says it's not uncommon for small police departments to have millions of searches from thousands of external agencies across the US.

The searches were done for even low-profile crimes such as loud noise complaints, running employee background checks, or targeting a motorcyclist for hiding a cell phone.

The actual searches often consist of very vague terms, such as "weird kid" or "weird kid," "driving around weird," or "idiot." There are also searches for "d*ckhead," "sh*thead," and "sexy."

Among the search terms are active targeting of racial groups such as "Roma" and "g*psy" targeting the Roma people specifically of suspected crimes.

Cops misusing ALPR data has real-world consequences. It's been widely reported that police officers have been caught using these camera systems to stalk their exes and potential romantic partners.

They've also lead to several false arrests due to errors by these license plate readers. Not only do law enforcement base arrests on flawed facial recognition systems, they also get license plate numbers wrong: literally the one thing they're designed to do. The lack of scrutiny in these cases is clearly reflected in every step of the process, including the initial search.

As the backlash against Flock cameras mounts, it's important to remember that it's not one specific company that's the problem, it's ALPRs as a whole and police departments' inability to use them responsibly. Other companies like Axon seem to have picked up the slack, picking up the contracts from some cities that have dropped Flock due to backlash.