Darth Vader Takes the Podium at San Diego City Council Over Flock Surveillance

Our Take

Credit where it's due: Municipal Minutes caught a moment that says more about the state of public comment than a dozen policy memos could. When someone has to dress up as a Sith Lord to get a city council to actually listen, that tells you something about how normalized license plate surveillance has become in municipal budgets and how little scrutiny it usually gets before the vote.

The costume is the hook, but the substance is the same fight we track every day: cities quietly signing contracts with Flock Safety, installing camera networks that log every passing plate, and treating it as routine infrastructure rather than a surveillance expansion that deserves real debate. San Diego residents showing up — even in a cape — are doing the work most councils hope nobody does: asking who sees this data, how long it's kept, and who it gets shared with.

If your city has Flock cameras going in, don't wait for a viral costume to get attention. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and use our take-action resources to show up to your own council meeting before the contract is signed, no lightsaber required.