Rollins College currently has five Flock Safety cameras located at the entries to campus that are used to record vehicle license plates to improve security, according to Ken Miller, the head of Campus Safety.
Miller said that the cameras have been utilized for around four years now. They use mechanical license plate reader equipment to take note of vehicles leaving and coming onto campus. The cameras are designed to help Campus Safety and law enforcement investigate incidents and track down vehicles associated with safety concerns.
Miller distinguished five camera locations: at the back of Ward and Elizabeth Halls, Holt Avenue near Strong Hall, Park Avenue near the Office of Admission, Chase Avenue near the Alfond Sports Center, and Ollie Avenue near Rollins Garage.
The cameras look at license plates, record their numbers, and connect them to details like location and time that the vehicle passed the camera. Miller said that the cameras are fixed devices instead of controlled cameras that staff can use to track people around campus.
“It is not actively monitored,” Miller said. “It is a fixed camera. It sits there and it takes pictures of license plates.”
According to Miller, there are three organizations that have access to the information: Rollins College Campus Safety, Orange County Sherriff’s Office, and Winter Park Police Department.
In addition to Campus Safety, these outside forces of law and order can utilize the cameras, such as identifying stolen vehicles. Miller said officers can get warnings when a reported vehicle that has been stolen in Orange County comes onto campus, giving them the opportunity to act. The technology is especially helpful because, according to Miller, staff can put individual data about a vehicle into the system and get an alert with a photograph and location if the vehicle is noticed.
Miller described an investigation that took place recently in which license plate data assisted investigators in finding a vehicle linked to an assault that occurred on campus involving someone who was unaffiliated with Rollins. He said that the data was distributed to Winter Park police and the state attorney’s office to assist in identifying who was involved in the incident.
SGA senator Zoya Bajwa (‘28) expressed concern regarding who Flock data is shared with. “Even though we have a working relationship as Rollins College with the Winter Park Police Department, my bigger concern is with Orange County [Sherriff’s Office] because we don’t have a relationship with them, and even though it hasn’t happened yet, there is still concern of ICE agents coming to Orange County [Sheriff’s Office] and asking to see this kind of information that is collected via Flock cameras on Rollins students or Rollins-affiliated people,” said Bajwa. “My major concerns are data and privacy overreach, and…the idea of big local and federal agents being able to terrorize students and professors.”
Flock Safety issued the License Plate Reader Policy, which details what is done with collected information, including plate numbers, vehicle images, dates, and times. The policy states that the data is expunged on a rolling seven-day basis by default. However, consumers may set up diverse retention periods. It is not specified within the policy which retention period Rollins uses.
Concerns have been raised about the general implications of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). The main concern is that collecting vehicle location data and distributing it among different organizations can create privacy risks. SGA senator Claire Classon (‘27) said while “Ken Miller did provide answers on why the Flock cameras are used on campus” in an open discussion with SGA, she “did not find the protection of the recordings on campus sufficient.”
“Even though the recordings are not permanently kept, WPPD and OCSO do have access to the Flock recordings. I worry that ICE/police forces will one day use these recordings through these police departments to potentially target those on our campus,” said Classon.
As Rollins persists in using license plate readers, questions continue to be asked about access to data, protection of privacy, and retention. For more information about Campus Safety at Rollins, visit the college’s Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act website.
Comments are closed.