FAYETTEVILLE — Plans call for the use of license plate recognition technology to catch parking violators at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
A final decision about switching over to a camera-based system for parking enforcement could be made before the end of September, said Gary Smith, UA’s transit and parking director.
If UA makes the change, it will join several campuses in other states in using the technology. But UA would perhaps be the first in Arkansas, where privacy concerns led lawmakers to pass Act 1491 of 2013, creating strict regulations on the data captured by license-plate readers.
The change is one of several recommendations from a not-yet-finalized campus transportation study, Smith said. Also under consideration is a shift to parking zones that would allow people to park only in one part of campus as a way to reduce cross-campus traffic, Smith said. He added that no decision on that idea is expected without lengthy campus discussion.
The recommendations come at a time of continued rapid enrollment increases at UA, with the number of students increasing by about 50 percent over the past 10 years. UA enrolled 26,754 students last fall, up from 17,821 in fall 2005.
“There’s just not enough parking,” said Connor Flocks, president of UA’s Associated Student Government.UA has about 13,600 parking spaces, according to a 2015 university report.
License plate recognition to monitor parking lots will be “more efficient and probably catch more people” parking without permission, Smith said during a presentation Thursday to UA’s staff senate. “We’re hoping to implement it in late fall or over the Christmas break,” he said. The fine is $50 for parking in a lot without authorization.
He said UA will not drop parking permits this academic year, instead using both systems if final approval is granted for the use of license plate readers, using the time to work out any problems with the technology. He told the Democrat-Gazette that UA’s executive committee and Chancellor Joe Steinmetz must approve the change.
Smith described license plate readers as a way to bring in more revenue and reduce costs over the long term compared to issuing permits. He said the university spends about $45,000 yearly to produce and mail out parking permits.
Costs for the new technology would depend on a vendor, Smith said, adding that UA would seek bids for the technology. Smith said it might cost roughly $30,000 to set up one camera as a license plate reader. Smith said he did not expect parking permit prices to increase if the technology is adopted.
Smith said schools including Texas Tech University and the University of Kansas use such a system, sometimes referred to as LPR.
Casey Jones, a spokesman for the International Parking Institute, an industry organization, said he worked at the University of Colorado when it began utilizing the technology about nine years ago. It was one of the first campuses to adopt the technology, he said.
“The use of LPR is a growing trend,” Jones said, adding that it “offers an immense amount of opportunity to reduce operational costs.”
Privacy advocates have expressed concern about the technology. In Arkansas, state lawmakers in 2013 restricted the use of license plate readers, carving out exemptions for police and parking enforcement entities. The law allows data to be kept for no more than 150 days unless it’s part of an ongoing investigation.
It also requires entities using license plate readers to spell out their policies on retention and destruction of license plate data. Anyone found violating the law can be subject to financial penalties.
Applicants for UA parking permits already report the make and model of their vehicles, as well as license plate information, to UA.
With the new system, cameras mounted on UA parking department vehicles would take photos of vehicles in parking lots, recording plate information and checking for any vehicles without permission to park in that area of campus. A citation could be sent right away via email to those within the UA community.
Holly Dickson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said she did not know of any other parking entities making use of license plate readers.
She said the photo-based technology “captures all cars, all motorists, not just ones that are flagged for some reason,” making privacy concerns important.
Smith said UA would work with any vendor to implement details on how long data will be stored. He said he was confident UA could develop such a policy before using the technology.
He emphasized that the technology allows for greater flexibility in offering permission for a given time period.UA would be able to consider offering permission to park for two days a week, for example, though he said further discussion is needed to decide what would be best for students and the campus community.
Permits would still be required for scooters, which are not required to have plates, and for motorcycles, he said.
The other major parking proposal, a move to zoned parking, will not happen without further campus discussion, Smith said. More details also would need to be worked out regarding the license plate reader technology, he said.
“We’re going to run into things we haven’t thought of yet,” Smith told the staff senate.