KALAMAZOO, MI — Dozens of video surveillance cameras line the Kalamazoo Mall, where crowds of people were walking this weekend to outdoor shops and events.
If a request from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is approved, officers will have a new high-tech tool to look at the feeds from those cameras and others throughout the city to enforce laws and fight crime.
The Monday, June 5 Kalamazoo City Commission agenda includes a $375,000, three-year contract with Fusus, Inc., for a real-time crime center video and collaboration platform.
The effort would be a public-private partnership, and $100,000 for the effort would come from the Peregrine Foundation. Other donations could help fund the project, the city agenda packet states.
The system will allow for constant police surveillance through a network of live cameras.
While the agenda mentions downtown as the target area, it’s not clear on the boundaries or scope.
The new system is designed to allow police to work with local businesses. If a business opts in, police could access their cameras in real time to view outdoor public spaces, like streets and sidewalks. Police would also be able to rewind the footage.
“Fusus is able to bring all of those streams together on one platform,” Assistant Chief Matt Huber told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette on June 2.
Police could use the technology in solving crimes, he said. It allows police to see and send officers to any incident.
“It’s just more efficient for us to help solve crimes,” Huber said.
Another feature of the technology shows live officer locations on a map, and it could be integrated with dispatch, he said.
ACLU of Michigan Senior Staff Attorney Phil Mayor reviewed details of the plan. He said our government should be spending money promoting the welfare of the community rather than surveilling it.
“Dragnet surveillance of the type that tends to result from ‘real-time crime centers’ inevitably targets vulnerable communities who already bear the brunt of overpolicing in our society,” Mayor said. “The proposal in Kalamazoo raises serious privacy concerns and leaves important questions unanswered.”
The proposal has “scant” details, Mayor said. He’d like to see more details about whether or not facial recognition would be used.
“The report also does not describe any limits on how Kalamazoo would share the information it collects with other private or public entities, such as corporations and immigration enforcement officials,” Mayor said. “The public deserves time for meaningful review and input so they may ask questions and get thorough answers before the City Commission votes on this proposal.”
Huber said he recognizes there will be some concerns with the technology. But he also believes there will be benefits, like responding to shootings or active violence.
The proposed cost for 2023 is $125,000, which includes 25 units to connect businesses downtown to the system. The units are $400 each.
Business and home cameras
The proposed real-time crime center would bring together video from a variety of sources, per city documents. That includes private security cameras, doorbell cameras, traffic cameras, body cameras and other emergency response platforms.
It would be voluntary for businesses to participate. The use of private security cameras at homes would be handled in a different way, Huber said.
People could sign up to volunteer the video from their exterior cameras. If an incident happens in the area, the department would send an alert to registered users and request that they check their cameras and send any relevant videos or feeds to police.
“If you see something, say something, share something,” Huber said. They won’t be monitoring cameras at private homes, he said.
The department wants to work toward a system like Atlanta’s, which has more than 16,000 cameras integrated in a similar system. He said to visit connectatlanta.org to see more information.
The department has tried the platform at some locations on a trial basis in Kalamazoo, Huber said, but he declined to say when and where.
Citizens walking downtown shared their thoughts on Friday, June 2.
City resident Lois Stahl, 69, was within view of multiple cameras on South Rose Street businesses Friday. She would not object to the police surveillance expansion, she said.
“I haven’t got anything to worry about except jaywalking,” Stahl said. She was homeless in recent years, and said she would have liked extra security cameras because of things she’s seen while outside in public areas.
Bronson Park and other city-owned properties already have surveillance cameras in place and would be integrated with the system, police said.
Natalie Huff Valentine, President/Owner of Peregrine Company, declined to comment when reached by phone Friday and said she may call back at a later time if she has time. Peregrine Company is a commercial and residential development and property owner with several spaces downtown.
Valentine wrote a letter to city officials that is included in the board agenda packet.
Resident Beryl Wilson Sr., 72, said modern surveillance systems have advanced features such as facial recognition and can be biased.
“It has its flaws,” he said, and he would like to see a system used to bring justice when legitimate crimes happen, but still has questions about how police would use it.
“It all depends on what they’re going to use it for and how they’re going to secure the community with it,” Wilson said. “But nobody likes big brother looking over their shoulder all the time.”
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