Detroit City Council approves $2.7 million contract for cameras and lighting at four parks

The Detroit City Council approved a three-year, $2.7 million contract to install surveillance cameras and lighting at four city parks. Council members cited more than 700 security-related interactions reported at those locations since 2024.

Detroit-based Bayview Electric Company LLC will install the equipment along walkways and heavily used areas of Chandler Park, Eliza-Howell Park, Maheras-Gentry Park and Rouge Park. Council members said the project is intended to provide consistent lighting and security after residents raised safety concerns.

The vote was not unanimous. District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero cast the sole no vote, citing privacy and surveillance concerns. District 7 Council Member Denzel McCampbell supported the measure after pressing the city’s General Services Department for answers about data storage, constitutional rights and third-party access.

McCampbell said residents in his district asked for more security in the parks, but he wanted assurances the city was not moving toward an increased surveillance state.

Under the approved terms, all recorded data will be stored and monitored by the city’s Video Management System, which is secured by the Department of Innovation and Technology. Although a private vendor will install the cameras, the city said data will not be held on a private third-party server.

Video footage will be kept for up to 30 days under the department’s existing data retention policy unless it contains evidence of a crime. The cameras will also be connected to the Detroit Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center to link park operations with emergency response.

City officials said the cameras and their data will not be used for traffic enforcement, immigration enforcement or personal targeting. In response to McCampbell’s questions about First Amendment activity, the General Services Department said its technology governance is content-neutral and that public parks belong to the community for expression, assembly and recreation.

Requests to access surveillance data must be reviewed and approved by the city’s Law Department. The cameras will also be included in annual reports on surveillance technology and use.

As part of the approval, the General Services Department must post answers to McCampbell’s internal memo, finalized contracts and any future amendments on its public website. The council also required the department to send quarterly reports covering incident data, park contacts and complaints from the four parks.

Santiago-Romero said the decision was difficult because residents have asked the council to support safety measures, but she remained concerned about expanded surveillance in Detroit. She pointed to the council’s earlier experience approving Flock cameras for freeways, only to later see them deployed elsewhere in the city.