A local police officer searched a nationwide license plate camera network, entering "idk" as his reason. How many cameras did that search cover?

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A police officer in Indiana queried 82,413 automated license-plate cameras across 6,474 separate Flock networks. His official stated reason in the search box was just three letters: "idk." More than 30 departments ran over 6,300 similar sweeps justified only as "TBD."

These logs are public because California has required a written reason for camera searches since 2015. After privacy advocates exposed what officers were actually typing, Flock pledged to replace the free-text box with a dropdown of standard offenses.

A US police officer ran a search across 82,413 license plate cameras. The reason he gave was "idk".

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation · checked Sep 2026