Detroit will light and watch four of its busiest parks under a $2.7 million contract

DETROIT — Four of Detroit’s most heavily used parks will get new security cameras and lighting under a three-year, $2.7 million contract the City Council approved Tuesday, BridgeDetroit reported.

The work covers walkways in Chandler Park, Eliza-Howell Park, Maheras-Gentry Park and Rouge Park. Bayview Electric Company, a Detroit firm, will install the equipment.

The city’s General Services Department, which runs the parks, said the four sites have recorded more than 700 “security-related interactions” since 2024. The figure came in the department’s written answers to questions from District 7 Council Member Denzel McCampbell. Council members described the contract as a response to residents who have asked for safer parks.

The vote was not unanimous. District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero cast the only no vote. She pointed to Flock cameras the council once approved for freeways that, she said, have since turned up in other parts of the city. “It was a hard vote because I know it’s something that we’re being asked by community to support,” she told BridgeDetroit.

McCampbell had questioned whether park video would sit on a private company’s server and how residents’ constitutional rights would be protected. He voted yes after the department answered his memo, telling BridgeDetroit he backed the project reluctantly on behalf of residents who want more security.

Under those answers, the contractor installs the cameras, but the footage is stored and monitored on the city’s own video management system, which the Department of Innovation and Technology secures. Video is kept no longer than 30 days unless it holds evidence of a crime. The cameras will link to the Detroit Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center.

The department said the cameras will not be used for traffic or immigration enforcement or to target people for personal reasons. Requests to see the footage must be approved by the city Law Department.

As part of the approval, the council required the department to post its memo answers, the final contract and any amendments on its website, and to send the council quarterly reports on incidents, contacts and complaints at the four parks.

Sources:
BridgeDetroit, “Detroit approves $2.7M in park cameras, lighting amid surveillance concerns,” Oct. 7, 2026, https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroit-approves-2-7m-in-park-cameras-lighting-amid-surveillance-concerns/
Detroit City Council formal session, Oct. 6, 2026 (video), https://reflect-detroit-vod.cablecast.tv/internetchannel/show/15408
Photo: DontCallMeLateForDinner, “Rouge Park Detroit south entrance,” Nov. 16, 2024, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rouge_Park_Detroit_south_entrance.jpg

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Tags: Detroit · News · Parks and Recreation · City Council · Roads and Transportation