Darth Vader speaks in support of Flock cameras at San Diego public safety meeting
The short version: A Darth Vader cosplayer defending Flock cameras at a San Diego hearing made headlines, but the joke shouldn't distract from the real surveillance debate underneath it.
Our Take
Credit to NBCLA for capturing the moment — a man in a full Darth Vader costume stepping up to a San Diego public safety committee microphone to praise Flock Safety's ALPR network. It's the kind of clip that goes viral for the spectacle, and we get why. But strip away the cape and the voice modulator, and what's left is a city council chamber where residents are still trying to get a straight answer about who watches the watchers.
Public comment theater, intentional or not, has a way of drowning out the substance of these meetings. Somewhere between the laughs, San Diego officials are making real decisions about a camera network that logs where cars go, stores that data, and shares it with other agencies — often with minimal public oversight and vague retention policies. Costumes come and go; the databases don't.
If you live in San Diego or anywhere Flock has quietly rolled out readers, it's worth knowing exactly where those cameras sit and what your local government has actually agreed to. Check our camera map to see what's near you, and if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR expansion in your city, our take-action page has the tools to do it — no lightsaber required.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of NBCLA, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.