By Kevin Ostrowski
AMHERST — The University at Buffalo has put its plan to test Flock license plate cameras on hold, just over a week after its police department said at a town hall that the pilot would start in the spring.
At the direction of President Caroline Attardo Genco, the university has “indefinitely paused” the pilot to allow more time for input from the campus, UB said in a notice published Thursday, Nov. 5.
“After careful deliberation over the past several weeks, I have decided that additional conversation and engagement with the university community is needed before determining whether to proceed with the pilot program,” Dr. Genco said in the statement.
University Police had planned a free 60-day trial of 20 Flock cameras at campus entrances, which The Chronicle reported on Nov. 2. The cameras use automated, artificial-intelligence-assisted license plate readers made by Flock Safety. Police said the tool would help them investigate vehicle-related crimes.
“It wasn’t socialized like it should have been”
Dr. Genco was more candid in private meetings with faculty and student leaders, according to recordings obtained by The Spectrum, UB’s student newspaper.
“When I heard there were concerns, we stepped back and we said, ‘let’s pause this until we understand better on how we can employ technology to better keep our campus safe,’” she told the Faculty Senate executive committee. “There’s no question it was planned. And it wasn’t socialized like it should have been with the community.”
She said the decision to look into the technology was made a couple of years ago and that she has been “getting up to speed,” The Spectrum reported. She also told student government leaders that University Police Chief Kim Beaty had “reprimanded” staff in an email over how the town hall was run.
“The chief took this very seriously and she basically told her staff, ‘This is not how we can conduct ourselves,’” Dr. Genco said, according to the newspaper. “We heard you loud and clear that we needed to do a better job of this town hall.”
She did not rule out other security spending. “We’ll make some decisions to make sure that we invest in additional security for our campus,” she told student leaders. “We will do that. I don’t know what they will be.”
A committee that has barely met
The university has handed the next step to its University Police Advisory Committee, made up of faculty, staff and students. After gathering feedback, the committee “will develop a framework to advise senior leadership in evaluating the appropriate use of the technology, the security and handling of the data it collects, and factors to consider when deciding whether to move ahead with the pilot,” the UB notice said.
Some committee members say they were not consulted. Sarah MacDougall, president of the Graduate Student Association and a member of the committee, told The Spectrum it was “news” to her that the committee would lead the conversation. She said it had met only twice, most recently in early September.
Kristin Stapleton, who chairs the Faculty Senate, raised the same concern with Dr. Genco at a Tuesday meeting of the senate’s executive committee, according to The Spectrum.
“The Police Advisory Council was cited as a guarantee that this would be done properly, and yet it has not discussed that whole issue yet,” Ms. Stapleton said. “It looks like the whole community has signed off on it because we nominated the people for the Police Advisory Committee. Of course, the public doesn’t know that but for me, it’s a concern because in some ways we’ve been used.”
The pressure behind the pause
Opposition had built for weeks. A petition asking Dr. Genco to reverse the police department’s plan had more than 940 signatures as of Nov. 6, and the Faculty Senate sent her a resolution supporting it on Oct. 21, The Spectrum reported. The Student Association had been seeking a meeting with the president.
“Everyone’s confused and it’s not fair,” Na’Dia Carter, the Student Association’s vice president for advocacy, told the newspaper.
UB said its commitment to safety has not changed. “Throughout this process, the university’s responsibility to provide a safe environment for its students, faculty, staff and visitors remains paramount,” the notice said.
The university’s pause follows a broader regional debate over the cameras. Lockport’s Common Council voted 5-1 to revoke permission for the city’s eight Flock cameras, The Chronicle reported, and license plate readers became an issue in the 143rd Assembly District race after a Cheektowaga police scandal.
The Chronicle has asked UB and University Police for comment on when the advisory committee will meet and whether the pilot’s spring timeline is still possible.
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