UNC inks contract for license plate readers, a step toward more campus surveillance

UNC-Chapel Hill is moving forward with installing license plate readers on campus, following the university canceling an agreement to do so last year.

The university entered into a new contract with Flock Safety, a private company, in late February to install 23 license plate reader cameras around campus, UNC spokesperson Kevin Best confirmed to The News & Observer Wednesday.

The initial decision to order license plate readers from Flock had been made before the Aug. 28 killing of professor Zijie Yan on campus last year, but the deal was not final by the time of the shooting, UNC Board of Trustees member Marty Kotis previously told The N&O.

UNC Police Chief Brian James in September said the technology was one step the university would take to improve security following the killing. The readers would help his department “better secure campus,” James said.

The cost of the readers and installation will be $83,950, Best said. The university will also pay an annual fee of $69,000 in each of the following two years for the technology, making for a total cost of $221,950, he said.

“The safety of our campus community is our top priority, and installing a license plate reader system is one tool among many we are implementing to continue to enhance safety on our campus,” spokesman Best said.

Flock’s battle with state licensing board

Flock’s automated devices are already in use by police departments, sheriff’s offices and homeowners associations in North Carolina.

Prominently marketed as a deterrent to crime and a tool to solve everything from car theft to child abductions, the devices keep records of passing traffic. Law enforcement can query that data to search for license plates or vehicles of interest to them.

The company has been criticized, notably by the American Civil Liberties Union, for the vast amount of data it collects and the lack of regulation surrounding the technology.

UNC’s new contract with Flock is its second agreement with the company in six months. After signing an initial contract in mid-September, the university canceled it in early October after learning that Flock “was not licensed to do business in North Carolina.”

The state Alarm Systems Licensing Board sent a cease-and-desist letter to Flock demanding the company stop advertising, installing and maintaining security alarm services in the state in January 2022. Last October, a Wake County judge temporarily barred the company from installing additional camera systems or maintaining its current devices unless it uses a third-party vendor licensed by the board.

Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin told The N&O Wednesday that, since the October ruling, the company has partnered with a vendor that is licensed “to supervise or perform such installations or service.”

“Flock is honored to be working with UNC-Chapel Hill to keep students, faculty, and visitors safe on and around campus,” Beilin said.

UNC initially refused to release contract

Flock technology allows police to search for any license plate for up to 30 days after plates are logged.

Police say Tailei Qi, a graduate student charged with killing professor Yan, drove to campus on the morning of the shooting and then fled by foot after the shooting, leaving his car in place. He was later arrested in a residential area off campus.

Along with confirming the university had entered into a new agreement with Flock, Best on Wednesday provided The N&O with copies of the university’s original contract and agreements with the company that were signed last September.

The N&O had asked the university for the initial contracts on multiple occasions prior to this week. UNC staff refused to provide them, saying there were “no existing or responsive University records subject to disclosure” under state public records law, until Raleigh attorney Mike Tadych contacted the university last week on behalf of The N&O and asserted that the records were public.

Best on Wednesday said the university would provide a copy of its new contract with Flock “as soon as it is reviewed.”

The university has hired the CNA Corporation, an independent research and analysis organization, to conduct an after-action review of the shooting and the university’s response. A report generated from that review, which will include recommendations for how the university can improve its campus safety and its response to emergencies, among other areas, is expected to be released by the end of the spring semester.

Reporter Tyler Dukes contributed.