Flint, Michigan, businesses plan to partner with police to combat crime at establishments across the city by giving authorities a look at what’s happening there in real time.
Local business owners will pay $990 for Sonitrol to install four cameras, to place signage and a green beacon. The businesses will also have to pay $90 a month that will allow Sonitrol and Flint police to have web and mobile access.
Lt. Todd Pillsbury said Project C.A.T.T. Eye — named after the department’s crime area target team — will begin in March.
“We have access to a live feed,” he said. “We have a pilot program of five businesses starting the spring and 50 more businesses waiting to get on board.”
The program is modeled after Detroit’s “Project Green Light,” Pillsbury said, which helped with a 50 percent drop in crime at businesses after the program was implemented.
Sonitrol partnered with Flint police, found a camera supplier and will provide the web hosting, maintenance and support.
The Jimmy John’s on University Avenue will be the first business to launch Project C.A.T.T. Eye, according to Mike Buckel, vice president of Sonitrol Great Lakes.
“Every business in Flint has cameras, but you don’t have the same platform. We got a commitment from a supplier to give us a good deal and the selling point is it’s all on the same platform,” he said. “Nowadays, the first thing that police do is go talk to all of the businesses to see who has cameras.”
The project was one of 22 organizations that “completed impactful projects aimed at improving residents’ quality of life,” as part of the Flint Sprint initiative, according to the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce.
Flint Sprint was an effort that stemmed from the chamber’s Leadership Summit last summer where business leaders from across the state came to Flint to help the community recover from the Flint water crisis.
Organizers of Flint Sprint then went to Chief Tim Johnson to see what projects the department may be working on and just needed a little extra insight or assistance to get the work done, according to Michelle Hill, shared services director at the chamber.
“We picked projects that we felt that our community partners could sustain over a period of time,” Hill said. “We’re hoping that this is something that residents can utilize long term.”
Within 60 days, according to Hill, Flint police were able to identify five local businesses willing to participate in the program, utilize the Flint police/fire 911 facility as a real-time monitoring location, find a local vendor to provide the equipment and get a name for the new program.
“They’re now carrying out that mission and vision for project CATT Eye,” Hill said.
Source: Previously published by MLive
