A Cop Searched 19,000 Flock Cameras Across 1,558 Cities. His Reason: 'LMAO'

A routine police search might involve looking for a stolen car or a wanted suspect. But one officer's reason for searching a vast network of automated licence plate readers was simply 'LMAO'.In July 2025, an officer with the Lake County, Indiana, Sheriff's Department used Flock Safety's surveillance system to search for a licence plate across more than 19,000 cameras covering 1,558 cities and towns. According to a record of the search, the reason entered was 'LMAO'.The case was among dozens identified in an analysis by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of Flock's search logs. The records show officers entering jokes, gibberish and other seemingly unserious terms into a field intended to document the reason for a search.Police Searches Included 'IDK' And GibberishData reviewed by the EFF included searches labelled 'LMAO', 'LOL', 'Hehe', 'Haha', 'idk' and 'blah'. Other entries included 'asdfg' and strings of apparently random keyboard characters.