WATCH: Man dressed as Darth Vader speaks on Flock cameras at council meeting

Our Take

Credit where it's due: FOX 5 New York caught a resident showing up to a council meeting in a full Darth Vader costume to speak out against a Flock Safety camera contract, and the bit works. Nothing says "we're building an empire of surveillance" quite like the Empire's own enforcer warning local officials about what they're signing up for. Council chambers are usually where this stuff gets rubber-stamped in five minutes flat with zero public pushback — a costume is sometimes what it takes to get people to actually stop and listen.

Underneath the joke is a real point that keeps getting made across the country, just with less flair: these ALPR networks get approved with almost no debate about data retention, who gets access, or how easily license plate trails can be abused. Once a city says yes, the cameras go up fast and the questions come later, if at all. That's exactly the pattern we track nationwide.

If your town is quietly adding Flock cameras without a real public conversation, you don't need a cape to show up and ask questions — check our map to see what's already been installed near you, and use our take-action guide to push back before it's rubber-stamped.