North Carolina State University
License Plate Recognition System Data Collection and Privacy Operating Procedure

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2018

PURPOSE: This Operating Procedure provides guidelines for the collection, retention, and privacy of license plate recognition data at North Carolina State University (“University”).

REVIEW: This Operating Procedure will be reviewed annually by the Director of Transportation with any revisions sent to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Environmental Health and Public Safety and the Office of Legal Affairs.

OPERATING PROCEDURE

The Department of Transportation (“Transportation”) employs license plate recognition hardware and software (“LPR”) for capturing parking space utilization data, vehicle parking enforcement and to manage access control to parking facilities.

Locations

LPR data is collected on University managed or owned streets, parking lots and structures, as well as any location associated with a current university lease, rental or mutual‐aid agreement. Transportation uses fixed cameras, as well as a number of mobile vehicle‐mounted systems and/or handheld devices, which are mounted, driven or operated by trained personnel in parking locations throughout the university and associated areas included in this operating procedure. Fixed and mobile camera locations are active 24 hours daily, 7 days per week.

Data Collection

The LPR system captures two photos of observed vehicles: (1) a context photo of the vehicle and its immediate surroundings and (2) a photo of the license plate. Typically, these photos are taken from the rear of the vehicle, although there are occasions where a photo is taken from the front of a vehicle backed into a space or standing in a driving aisle. Along with the photographic data, the system also records the global positioning system coordinates and date/time information of the observation. Further software processing of the license plate image generates an alphanumeric version of the license plate number, which is also stored with the record. While no owner or driver information is stored directly with the LPR record, vehicle LPR data is linked to individual and departmental customer accounts within the parking management system.

Use of Data

The intended use of data collected by the LPR system is for analyzing parking utilization patterns to maximize the efficient use of parking resources, parking access control, parking enforcement and other official university business. LPR data is used to determine a vehicle’s access permissions in a given parking area, or controlled access area of campus, and associated areas included in this operating procedure and support the issuance of a parking citation, if needed.

Data Retention

Data is retained according to established University data retention policies.

Access to LPR System

Access to the LPR system is restricted to trained University personnel performing their official University duties. All personnel with access to the system use unique identifiers and passwords to access records and all login activity, record additions, and other activity is logged. Access to the system by others is prohibited.

Requesting LPR Data for a Vehicle

Current University students, faculty, and staff may request a report detailing what, if any, LPR data Transportation has on the vehicle(s) they have registered with Transportation. Requests shall be made in person at Transportation, located at 2721 Sullivan Drive, Administrative Services I Building, by presenting a valid University‐issued ID and the vehicle registration card(s). Requests from vehicle owners not affiliated with the University (and who therefore do not have a University‐issued ID or University email account) may be made by presenting Transportation with proof of ownership of the vehicle along with a valid photo ID. Vehicle owners may request a report detailing what, if any, LPR data Transportation has on their vehicle(s). All other external requests for records should be made to the University Records Officer in the Office of General Counsel.

Public Notification

Transportation will notify the public of its LPR data collection activities and policies by posting this operating procedure on the Transportation website.