A man in a Vader helmet turned Flock's San Diego contract into a procurement problem

At the August 19 meeting of San Diego's Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee, the chair called the next public comment card by name: "Darth Vader?" ^[1] A speaker in a black helmet and cape reached the microphone, heavy breathing first, and delivered a mock endorsement of Flock's camera network ^[1][2]; the reportable fact is not the costume but that a routine committee hearing on automated licence plate readers is now drawing that level of organised turnout.

The bit was built to be quoted. "The emperor is a fan of Flock, and we must continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground," the speaker said, before adding, "I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend," and asking, "How will the people trust this city council when this city council continues to vote for surveillance technology that imprisons them?" ^[3] He asked members to "work their Jedi mind tricks" and to use "double speaking" to sell more surveillance, and pointed back at the council's June 2023 vote for the Unsafe Camping Ordinance, which critics say effectively criminalised homelessness ^[4][5]. His identity was not revealed at the meeting, and 404 Media, which reported the appearance, has asked him to get in touch ^[2][6].

Strip the theatre and what is left is a contract file with three live problems. San Diego has more than 550 Flock cameras installed, according to public data aggregated by the tracking site DeFlock ^[7], which is a floor rather than a total because it depends on what is publicly discoverable ^[8]. The city also signed a year-long deal to join Flock's Nova service, giving the San Diego Police Department access to "open source intelligence" and data from other law enforcement agencies, Axios reported in April ^[9]. A one-year term is not an open-ended commitment; it is a scheduled decision that has to come back in front of somebody ^[10]. Nova supplements plate data with personal information sourced from other companies and the wider web, according to 404 Media, which cited a Flock employee describing the product in an internal meeting: "You're going to be able to access data and jump from LPR to person and understand what that context is, link to other people that are related to that person" ^[11][12].

The compliance and liability record is already on paper. In June, SDPD stopped sharing surveillance data with federal authorities and out-of-state agencies after Attorney General Rob Bonta's office warned that the practice likely violated state law barring local departments from sharing ALPR data with outside agencies, KPBS reported ^[13]. Separately, a San Diego man spent a month in jail after a Flock camera wrongly flagged him in a felony case involving brandishing a handgun, his attorney claims, and he is preparing to sue the city, according to the Times of San Diego ^[14].

That is the operator's read: a vendor whose renewal now carries a state law finding, an unresolved damages claim, and public comment sessions that cost councillors an afternoon.

Watch the Nova term's expiry and whether it returns as a renewal item or quietly lapses ^[9][10]. Watch whether the wrongful-flag suit is actually filed and what indemnity language the city's Flock paperwork contains ^[14]. And watch the DeFlock count ^[7].