UBCO says cameras will read licence plates but won’t feed AI overlords

Flock Safety cameras have been the latest herald of the surveillance state and created panic around automated license plate readers. But the ones in Kelowna are different.

The UBC Okanagan campus has around 25 automated license plate readers, also referred to as ALPRs, installed on campus. The university said they are secure, and solely used for traffic and parking enforcement, unlike the AI-powered ALPRs causing controversy in the U.S.

“UBC’s automated licence plate recognition cameras come from a Canadian provider, Genetec, and data-sharing functionality has been disabled. The cameras capture images only when their software detects letters and numbers, such as those on a licence plate,” UBCO’s media spokesperson Nathan Skolski said in an emailed statement.

The Montreal-based provider makes AI-powered cameras for parking enforcement and security, including the capacity to track and record data on people’s movement.

Genetec’s more controversial American counterpart has been at the centre of numerous scandals including cameras being misused by law enforcement, misidentifying suspects and license plates and security vulnerabilities.

Genetec hasn’t faced the same kind of scandals or controversies, but Montreal police removed one of their cameras after it was pointed out to the public by a reporter.

UBCO said its cameras are safer and completely different from the Flock Safety cameras that have caused a stir down south.

“UBC’s camera systems are operated entirely by UBC. UBC’s traffic and parking cameras are not connected to Flock or any other external network, and UBC’s cameras are not accessible to any outside companies or organizations,” Skolski with UBCO wrote. “Law enforcement agencies do not have access to camera data except in accordance with applicable legislation or a court order.”

The first license plate reading camera was installed for testing in 2024 and was “also integrated with the campus security systems, providing an extra layer of safety for our community,” according to a press release from the university.

There are roughly 71 automated license plate readers in B.C., according to a crowd source camera tracking site. Most of them are in the Vancouver area but there are two reported in Kamloops and one in Vernon, all for traffic or parking enforcement.

Not all automated license plate readers are powered by AI. Many use infrared cameras and special software to read license plates.

Police in B.C. have been using these kinds of cameras for years to automatically compare license plates to a “hot list” of vehicles flagged by ICBC or the Canadian Police Information Centre.

They’re also different from typical red light or speed cameras used for traffic enforcement. These aren’t the Flock cameras you might have heard about in the news, but they are a relatively new form of mass surveillance to take note of.

“UBC does not use Flock cameras,” Skolski said.