Michigan City Fights Retail Crime With AI-Powered Video Surveillance, 911 Camera Sharing

  • Jan 17, 2025

To combat persistent retail crime and deliver peace of mind to workers in the bustling North Leroy Street business district, the City of Fenton Police Department has deployed a new AI-powered video surveillance system with camera-sharing technology to accelerate response time during retail heists or other emergencies.

Fenton is a small city with 12,000 permanent residents, but Chief of Police Jeffery Cross estimates 60,000 people come through the town daily. Located off Highway US-23, Fenton is a popular shopping and restaurant district for commuters and people from neighboring cities. Unfortunately, retail criminals also come to the area. The new video surveillance system is designed to deter, detect, and apprehend retail criminals.

Housed in a rugged, weatherproof cabinet and mounted on a telephone pole with two cameras, the new system includes Eagle Eye 911 Camera Sharing technology that gives Fenton’s 911 dispatch professionals immediate access to view live security camera footage during an 911 emergency through a partnership with RapidSOS.

“With 911 Camera Sharing, the 911 operator can see the situation as it unfolds and give law enforcement direct, quality information and immediate feedback about what happened, and what direction the suspect is headed in,” Cross explained. “That enhances safety for first responders and our community.”

In addition, the security cameras have built-in AI-powered Eagle Eye Smart Video Search, which enables Fenton’s authorized law enforcement officials to quickly search security camera footage for vehicles, people, or objects of interest.

“With Smart Video Search you can search for a ‘person wearing a red shirt and black pants’ a ‘blue Honda truck’ or ‘person with backpack’ and quickly find a shoplifting suspect or determine when a certain vehicle, person, or group of people entered a shopping center parking lot, which can be critical information for law enforcement,” said Joe Bommarito of Elite Fire Safety, a division of Sciens Building Solutions, a Novi, Mich.-based security integrator that is working with the City of Fenton on the project.

“Fenton’s new system with 911 Camera Sharing and AI features such as Smart Video Search is like having a virtual patrol in the Fenton business district,” he added.

“Last month the National Retail Federation reported a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 versus 2019 and a 90% increase in dollar loss,” Dean Drako, CEO of Eagle Eye Networks said. “AI-powered video surveillance can now be deployed in more areas than ever, offering communities new ways to contend with rising retail crime.”

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