Darth Vader makes hilarious case for Flock cameras during council meeting

Our Take

Credit to news.com.au for capturing a moment that's almost too on-the-nose: someone in a Darth Vader costume standing up at a city council meeting to riff on surveillance tech, while the actual item on the agenda was the local police department's acquisition of Flock Safety ALPR cameras. The bit is funny. The policy underneath it isn't.

What gets lost in the laugh is that these council meetings are often the only real chance the public gets to weigh in before a network of always-on license plate cameras goes live in their town. Once approved, these systems quietly log every passing vehicle, build travel histories on residents who've done nothing wrong, and often share that data across jurisdictions with little oversight. The costume stunt worked because it got attention — but attention is exactly what these votes need before the cameras go up, not after.

If you want to know whether Flock is already watching your street, check our camera map, and if your city is considering a contract, our take-action page has tools to help you show up to that meeting — no costume required.