Flock Cameras in Costa Mesa, California

The short version

Costa Mesa, California voted 6-1 on July 21, 2026 to keep its Flock Safety contract while directing staff to renegotiate contract terms before the agreement expires in April 2027.

Voice of OC reported that Costa Mesa has 46 automated license plate reader cameras operated by Flock, up from 31 when the city first started its Flock contract in 2022.

The controversy grew after a former Costa Mesa police officer pleaded guilty in April 2026 to misdemeanors tied to unauthorized access to law-enforcement tools, including license plate reader data.

What the council decided

Voice of OC reported that the City Council voted 6-1 to keep the contract active, with Councilmember Arlis Reynolds voting no because she wanted immediate cancellation.

Council members directed staff to renegotiate terms covering how Flock may access and use data collected by Costa Mesa cameras.

The item is expected to return to council in October or November, according to Voice of OC, while the cameras remain active in the meantime.

What Costa Mesa operates

Costa Mesa uses 46 Flock cameras placed around the city, according to Voice of OC and CBS Los Angeles.

Voice of OC reported that the cameras are positioned to monitor entry and exit points, photograph passing vehicles, read license plates, and compare that information against law-enforcement databases.

The same report said the program costs $151,800 per year and that the city maintains a public transparency portal listing camera locations.

Why residents pushed back

The public concern was not only about whether police find the cameras useful. Residents raised privacy objections, asked whether Flock could be trusted, and argued that mass location scanning crosses a civic line.

CBS Los Angeles reported before the vote that immigrant-rights advocates and residents were urging the city to reconsider the system because of concerns over immigration enforcement and third-party access.

Costa Mesa police denied that the system would be used for immigration enforcement, and CBS quoted the department saying its ALPR system can only be used for legitimate law-enforcement purposes specific to California law.

The stalking case changed the debate

Voice of OC reported that former Costa Mesa police officer Robert Jay Josett was accused of using law-enforcement databases beginning in 2023 for inquiries unrelated to his job, including searches involving his wife, an ex-girlfriend, and romantic rivals.

The article said Josett was also accused of accessing Flock camera information to locate vehicles tied to those people, and that he pleaded guilty in April 2026 to three misdemeanors including unauthorized computer access and fraud related to illegally accessing the police department's license plate reader system.

That is the oversight lesson. A written rule against misuse is not enough if the city cannot show strong access controls, routine audits, fast removal of former users, and meaningful consequences when someone abuses the system.

The data-retention problem

Voice of OC reported that Costa Mesa's Flock data was being stored for 365 days and that council members asked for the retention period to be reduced to 45 days.

That is a major contract detail because retention length changes the privacy impact of the same camera network. A short retention window creates a narrower investigation tool. A long retention window creates a larger location-history database.

For residents, the practical question is whether the 45-day target becomes binding contract language, a written police policy, and a public audit item, or whether it remains only a council direction during renegotiation.

The sharing question

Voice of OC reported that almost every other California police department using Flock can tap into Costa Mesa's cameras when needed for an investigation or official police business, and that Costa Mesa officers can similarly access cameras in hundreds of California cities.

That network effect is why a local Flock contract is not just a local camera purchase. It can become part of a wider law-enforcement search system.

A city reviewing Flock should publish the active sharing settings, outside-agency access rules, audit-log process, search-purpose requirements, and any limits on federal or out-of-state access.

What police said the cameras did

Voice of OC reported that Costa Mesa police said Flock cameras directly resulted in 20 recovered stolen vehicles from July 2025 to July 2026.

The department also said camera information helped officers find three missing people and solve 10 sexual assault cases, according to the same report.

Those public-safety claims are part of the record, but they do not answer the full contract question. Council still has to decide what controls, retention limits, access rules, audits, and public reporting are required for the system to keep operating.

What other cities should learn

Costa Mesa shows why Flock renewals should not be automatic. Even when a city keeps the cameras, the renewal should force a public review of misuse history, data retention, sharing settings, user access, audit logs, vendor obligations, and cancellation rights.

The most important deadline is now April 2027, when the current contract is expected to expire. If the city wants cleaner terms, staff and council need to put those terms in writing before the renewal window closes.

For other cities, the lesson is simple: do not wait for a scandal to inspect the contract. Review the access logs, retention period, sharing network, and user-removal process before the public has to ask whether the system is already too loose.

The bottom line

Costa Mesa did not cancel Flock. It kept the cameras running while trying to clean up the contract.

That middle path may satisfy officials who see public-safety value in the cameras, but it also creates a proof problem. The city now has to show that the next version of the contract actually fixes the privacy, retention, access, and misuse concerns residents raised.

For cities considering Flock cameras, Costa Mesa is a reminder that the hard part is not only buying the tool. It is proving the tool stays inside the limits the city promised.

Sources used

Voice of OC, Costa Mesa Keeps Controversial Flock Cameras, Looks to Clean Up Contract Next Year, July 22, 2026: https://voiceofoc.org/2026/07/costa-mesa-keeps-controversial-flock-cameras-looks-to-clean-up-contract-next-year/

CBS Los Angeles, Costa Mesa reconsiders use of Flock license plate readers, July 13, 2026: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/costa-mesa-reconsiders-use-of-flock-license-plate-readers/

Voice of OC, Will Costa Mesa Ditch License Plate Surveillance Cameras After Cop Stalking Scandal?, July 21, 2026: https://voiceofoc.org/2026/07/will-costa-mesa-ditch-license-plate-surveillance-cameras-after-cop-stalking-scandal/

Flock Safety, License Plate Reader Policy: https://www.flocksafety.com/legal/lpr-policy

Flock Safety, Privacy, Data & Civil Liberties Policies: https://www.flocksafety.com/trust