25-02-2025
UNLV testing cameras to read license plates in aftermath of deadly 2023 attack
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Cameras that can read license plates are part of the security response that followed the Dec. 5, 2023, shooting on the UNLV campus. They are just part of what UNLV is doing in an effort to keep students safer.
University Police officials outlined changes that are in place and improvements that are still in planning stages during an update provided for Nevada lawmakers on Monday. Security improvements are being made at campuses across the state, but they at different paces because each school is different, Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) representatives said.
Starting with UNLV campus, license plate reader (LPR) technology is being tested.
'If there is a threat, a known threat to any law enforcement within a specific area, we can have a vehicle tagged,' Arnold Vasquez, interim chief of police for the University Police Department's Southern Command, said in Carson City.
'And if it's coming onto campus or that vehicle is spotted coming onto campus, we would get an automatic hit, not only with our department, but with the neighboring law enforcement agencies, so we can know that particular threat is arriving to our campus,' Vasquez said.
Beyond LPR technology, work is progressing to have all campus buildings monitored by camera — inside and out. Classrooms do not have cameras, officials said. UNR spend $1.3 million to upgrade cameras. 'It's not a big green blob anymore. It's a person we can see,' Eric James, chief of the Northern Command, told lawmakers.
Systems are being put in place to limit access to campus buildings, with locks that can be triggered when there is a threat. The locks would keep people out, but it would still be possible to leave. Those kinds of systems can also use timers, so that buildings are locked down at a given time of day or night.
The UNLV library is a security model that could be used for some other buildings, such as the UNLV student union.
About $5.1 million was set aside for repairs and improvements at Beam Hall on the UNLV campus, the site of the shooting. The estimated cost for improvements across the entire campus was placed at about $38 million, and officials are trying to get most of that funding through the Legislature.
And work is also proceeding on a way to lock a door just by hitting a button.
Notification systems that have been in place for years are being improved, and it will be possible to go to one central website to monitor situations across all campuses.
At the UNR campus, police have been working with a pair of drones. They are only used in response to a security incident, James said.
'What we don't want, is we don't want to give people the idea that we're spying on them by having a drone,' James said. The drones have been used in response to incidents in Reno and Washoe County, but they are not routinely deployed to patrol the campus, he said.
Democratic Sen. Fabian Doñate asked about the possibility of controlling after-hours access to the entire UNLV campus. NSHE Chancellor Patty Charlton told him that there hasn't been a cost estimate done on that.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus asked if staff licensed to carry a weapon were doing that. NSHE officials said that's a decision made at each campus, but the rule is against carrying weapons.
Charlton said the lessons learned from the 2023 shooting at Beam Hall that killed three people and left three more injured were applied across all campuses. 'It's not if, it's when,' she said.
Several lawmakers commented that they were impressed with the response to the shooting.
'The way that everyone came together and did that was remarkable,' Democratic Sen. Marilyn Dondero-Loop said. 'Everybody did exactly the right thing.'
Charlton singled out one part of the response. 'The Resiliency Center was incredible. The fact that they could stand up in 10 minutes and be able to provide shelter to those that needed it. It was a reunification location as well. But the counseling was absolutely astonishing. The quality. And so we were very very grateful for the Resiliency Center.'
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