As of late September 2026, the policy dispute over Flock Safety automated license-plate reader (ALPR) networks remains active across Orange County. No city has cancelled a contract. The debate has broadened beyond the three cities initially in focus — Santa Ana, Fullerton, and Costa Mesa — to include San Juan Capistrano, which is weighing a separate parking-enforcement LPR program. Each city remains in a review or deliberative phase.

At a Sept. 9, 2026 rally outside Santa Ana City Hall, advocates including Chispa's Tanya Navarro and Santa Ana Unified school board trustee Valerie Magdaleno demanded the city cancel its contract for 24 Flock Safety ALPRs. The cameras retain vehicle data for 365 days; Flock's transparency portal showed 1.3 million unique vehicles captured in the prior month. Critics cite privacy concerns and the possibility that data could reach federal immigration enforcement. Santa Ana also operates 32 Motorola readers under a separate five-year agreement signed in 2025. A Sept. 9 OC Register editorial urged cancellation. No vote has been scheduled or reported.

Fullerton police briefed the city council on Sept. 15 on the department's 17 fixed and two mobile Flock cameras, in operation since 2021 at a total cost of approximately $236,000. The department credits the system with recovering 274 stolen vehicles and locating 18 missing persons. In the prior 30-day window, the cameras logged roughly 1.0 million unique vehicles and generated 4,976 hot-list hits. The system has approximately 135 authorized users. Fullerton's standard retention period is 30 days unless data is flagged as evidence. Following that briefing, Voice of OC reported Sept. 21 that Fullerton officials are now formally reviewing the city's Flock camera policy — making Fullerton the latest OC municipality to move from passive awareness to active review.

Costa Mesa voted 6-1 in July 2026 to retain its 46-camera contract (approximately $151,800 per year for 31 cameras) through the April 2027 expiration, while directing staff to renegotiate data retention from 365 days toward 45 days. The outcome of that renegotiation has not been publicly reported.

The city of Orange renewed a roughly $375,000 Flock contract earlier in 2026, and Anaheim has added 72 readers. San Juan Capistrano, which already operates 20 Flock cameras, voted 4-1 on Sept. 1 (Council member Sergio Farias opposed) to pursue vehicle-mounted LPRs for downtown parking enforcement, with a formal RFP still ahead. Voice of OC reported Sept. 15 that community pushback is spreading across the county, though each city's policy debate remains at the review or briefing stage.

The near-term indicators are: whether Santa Ana's council schedules a formal vote; the result of Costa Mesa's retention renegotiation; and any follow-up action from Fullerton following its policy review. San Juan Capistrano's parking LPR RFP process will also draw scrutiny from privacy advocates.