'Darth Vader' voices enthusiastic support for Flock cameras.
The short version: A Darth Vader impersonator's satirical praise for Flock cameras at a San Diego council meeting says more about mass surveillance than any speech ever could.
Our Take
Give credit where it's due: whoever put on that cape and helmet at the San Diego meeting understood something a lot of city councils still don't. Flock Safety's pitch is basically the Empire's pitch — total tracking of every vehicle, sold as safety, no questions asked. Having a fictional authoritarian villain show up to cheerlead for ALPR networks is the kind of joke that writes itself, and ABC7 was smart to air it.
But the laugh shouldn't distract from what's actually happening in these meetings across the country. San Diego is one more city where police are rolling out Flock's automated license plate readers with minimal public debate, and residents are having to resort to satire just to get anyone's attention on the record. That's the real story: cameras go up fast, oversight lags behind, and by the time people realize their daily movements are being logged, the system's already live.
We track these rollouts nationwide because moments like this tend to get buried under the news cycle. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your plate, and if you want to push back before your city's next quiet vote, our take-action page has the tools to help.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of ABC7, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.