Video Cameras At Late-Night Businesses May Be Required In Detroit

DETROIT, MI — Businesses in Detroit that remain open past 10 p.m. would be required to participate in a program that allows police to monitor high-definition video feeds in real time under an ordinance police and city officials are drafting. The Project Green Light partnership is already in effect at 123 locations, where participating businesses have seen a double-digit decrease in violent crime, police said.

Before it can become law, the proposal must overcome obstacles, including concerns that it is too broad and raises privacy concerns that might not survive legal challenges. Some business owners already enrolled in the program say they appreciate that police rapidly respond when there’s a crime, but are troubled by police being able to routinely monitor their activities.

Here’s how the Green Light program works: Video feeds at the Detroit Police Real-Time Crime Center are monitored by officers and civilian employees. Police provide extra patrols near participating businesses and regularly stop in businesses and log their visits. The cost to participating business can be as low as $1,000 down and $160 a month to lease the equipment. Under a deal with Comcast and DTE Energy, businesses can pay the remaining $4,000 of the down payment in instalments over time. Businesses are required to ensure their premises are well-lit.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The ordinance to extend Green Light citywide is expected to go to a City Council vote in about three months. If approved, it would be phased in over time by ZIP code or council district. All late-night venues, whether party stores or the Fox Theatre, would be required to participate. High-crime areas would be prioritized in the deployment of resources.

Police spokesman Michael Woody told The Detroit News that Project Green Light has “set the bar nationally ... because it works.”

Michigan Restaurant Association President Justin Winslow told the newspaper that organization isn’t likely to support a mandate for participation, though he acknowledged “Green Light has been a smashing success.”

“We’ve heard positive reports from our members, and we would support initiatives to encourage our members to join,” he said. “But we always get a bit of pause when there’s a mandate. That’s not something we’d likely support.”

Green Light businesses interviewed by The Detroit News said police response time has improved when crime does occur, and that customers feel more secure when they know police are nearby. However, TNW Fuel Stop Sunoco owner Waked Tahini said the program was “a waste of money” and questioned whether response times have really improved.

“The other thing is, there’s no privacy,” he said. “If the police want to look at my footage after something happens, of course we’ll give them access to it. But I don’t like the idea of someone watching me or my employees whenever they want to. It’s like putting a camera in your home. I would vote against this.”

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said in an overnight news conference after a fatal shootout that left a robbery suspect dead and an off-duty police officer critically wounded that if Motor City Liquor, located at Gratiot Avenue west of Chene Street, had been a Project Green Light location, police would have been able to see the license plate on the vehicle driven by a second suspect.

Photo by Toshiyuki IMAI via Flickr Commons