Mayor Says “Virtually 100%” Of Residents Want Flock Safety Cameras Gone – Town Proceeds To Keep Them

Panelists voted 6-1 to continue a three-year agreement with Atlanta-based Flock Safety, set to expire in April of next year, but proposed renegotiating contract terms to strengthen the city’s control over how images captured by cameras are shared and with whom.

Whether Flock will be amenable to the changes remains to be seen, but city leaders plan to revisit the matter by November and take action at that time.

The decision drew jeers from “DeFlockers,” who’d rallied outside City Hall ahead of the 6 p.m. council meeting and stayed well after midnight to hear the council’s decision.

“It’s disappointing but not altogether unexpected,” Amy Stevens, a local organizer with the grassroots campaign OC Indivisible Coalition, said after the meeting. “[But] this is not going to deter us. This is just going to fire everyone up to fight even harder.”

During four hours of testimony only one comment, delivered via Zoom by former Costa Mesa Police Chief Ron Lawrence, supported keeping Flock, while dozens spoke out against it. Company representatives were not present to defend their product or services.

Costa Mesa’s agreement covers 46 devices, 31 secured by a $151,800 annual commitment from the city and another 15 paid for by a state organized retail theft grant.

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During Flock discussion, councilmember cold calls city attorney; receives crash course in 4A law
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Last night, the City of Costa Mesa, California, discussed whether it should keep its contract with Flock, after Costa Mesa police officer Robert Jay Josett was… pic.twitter.com/1OnDdaGPBa

— Orwell Day (@OrwellDay) July 23, 2026

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The cameras are strategically positioned to monitor entry and exit points throughout the city and aid criminal investigations, according to the staff report included with the agenda for last night’s city council’s meeting.

They photograph passing vehicles, read license plates and compare the information against law enforcement databases.

Almost every single other California police department that uses Flock has the ability to tap into Costa Mesa’s cameras at any time if they need it to assist in an investigation or official police business. Similarly, Costa Mesa officers can also tap into the hundreds of California cities’ Flock cameras during an investigation.

About 170 Costa Mesa employees have authorization to access the city’s Flock cameras. Most of those are sworn police officers with a handful of civilian employees also having access.

Representatives from the Costa Mesa Police Department said some officers go weeks without using the Flock cameras while others utilize them on a daily basis when conducting police business.

They repeatedly emphasized that every search must list a law enforcement reason, and the department conducts weekly audits to see if there’s been any unusual activity in the system.

“I understand the concerns surrounding this technology,” Costa Mesa Police Chief Joyce LaPointe said at the meeting. “I understand there are questions about privacy, government surveillance, data collection, who has access to this information, how long it will be retained and whether law-abiding people are being monitored.”

“Every access must have a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and misuse is not tolerated,” she said.

Police department representatives emphasized that Flock does not sell data to third parties or use facial recognition. They said the cameras don’t capture names, images or personal information of drivers, adding that cameras are not placed in parks.

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