When ALPR Logs Become Punchlines: Mass Surveillance Under Scrutiny

An EFF analysis of Flock Safety ALPR search logs shows officers often entered unserious or placeholder reasons (like LOL, LMAO, idk) or even mashed the keyboard to justify accessing drivers’ location data, revealing a culture of mass-surveillance abuse across multiple agencies. With thousands of searches logged under vague or nonsensical reasons, and many using “TBD,” the article argues there was little meaningful oversight or constitutional justification. A late-2025 update introduced a dropdown of generic offense categories which further reduces transparency, helping explain a drop in auditable entries. The piece calls for strict data deletion deadlines and a warrant requirement to curb overreach, urging courts and legislators to rein in ALPR surveillance that tracks ordinary people for low-level concerns.