What did Fullerton decide?
GovTech reported that the Fullerton City Council voted 3-1 on Oct. 6 to pause its 19 Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras for six months. The pause follows hours of debate and public comment, and the city is using the time to hold a town hall and review the Police Department's use of the system.
- Vote: 3-1 to pause, with Councilmember Jamie Valencia voting no and Mayor Fred Jung absent
- Length of pause: six months
- Councilmember Ahmad Zahra brought the proposal, with Councilmembers Shana Charles and Nicholas Dunlap in support
What changes for drivers?
Under the suspension, Fullerton is powering down its 19 cameras. Fullerton police will no longer receive real-time alerts when a wanted or stolen vehicle passes a camera, and detectives will lose access to searches showing where a plate has been.
The contract stays in place. The city pays roughly $51,000 a year under a Flock deal scheduled to run through at least 2028, according to the report. The pause does not end it.
The report does not say what happens to plate readers run by neighboring cities, the county, the state, businesses or HOAs. This pause covers only the Fullerton cameras.
Is the data being deleted?
Partly. A Flock Safety representative said previously collected data will be deleted under the department's 30-day retention policy, with backups purged about a week later. Images already booked into criminal cases will still be kept as evidence.
What is still unknown?
The report says the city has not set a date for the town hall. The council is expected to revisit the program around April. Police Chief Jon Radus said the department had not formally tracked whether the cameras work, though a reporting tool is under development. He cautioned that comparing crime numbers before and after the pause may be inconclusive. Fullerton police previously said the system helped recover 274 stolen vehicles and locate 18 missing persons, but the department did not track outcomes while the cameras were running.
Radus also told the council the department cannot share data with out-of-state or federal agencies. The Orange County Register's reporting, as relayed by GovTech, cites a transparency portal listing more than 200 California agencies that could have access to Fullerton's data.
What happens next?
City staff will spend the six months setting customer-service and audit protocols with Flock and comparing investigations with and without the cameras. After public input, the city will review the Police Department's license plate reader policy for council approval. The council is expected to revisit the program around April.
Readers who want to see where cameras sit can check the camera map or read how plate readers work. Residents can also look up which agencies have published transparency records on the agencies page.