The High Crime of “LMAO”: How Cops Are Treating Mass Surveillance As a Joke

On May 7, 2025, an officer from the Goshen Police Department entered a nonsensical phrase into a search field meant for documenting the reason of the search. The phrase was "idk," short for "I don't know." This practice of entering arbitrary reasons for searching automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks has become a disturbing trend across the country.

Law enforcement agencies, using private ALPR systems provided by companies like Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions, or Axon, routinely search ALPR networks without providing legitimate justifications. In their eagerness to showcase the technology's capabilities in solving serious crimes, they fail to acknowledge the absurd and frivolous reasons that drive these searches.

To mask their improper searches, some officers now rely on dropdown lists of crime categories, even though the system does not require proof that the selected reason matches the true purpose of the search. The ALPR databases have cultivated a culture of unrestricted access, enabling police to track citizens' movements for trivial reasons, such as amusement, personal whims, or even to validate an officer's mood.

The consequences of this unchecked surveillance are severe. Police have been known to misuse ALPRs to stalk romantic interests, monitor protests, and target ethnic groups without any suspicion of a crime. While some cases involve stalking or profiling, many others involve low-level, inconsequential investigations, such as checking if a student lives in a specific school zone, investigating loud music complaints, or surveilling a motorcyclist for holding a cell phone.

The blatant misuse of ALPRs has been documented in public records audits, which reveal millions of searches by various agencies across the United States. From officers using terms like "LOL" and "LMAO" to "idk" and "TBD" as reasons, the absurdity of these search justifications is astounding. In some cases, officers have even entered crude insults and profane language into the search field, demonstrating a complete disregard for privacy and civil liberties.

This culture of abuse has allowed police to treat mass surveillance networks as personal search engines, enabling them to monitor the movements of everyday citizens without restraint. The lack of warrant requirements, limited oversight, and deficient audit processes have exacerbated this problem, allowing the police to exploit these powerful surveillance tools with impunity.