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.”

Featured

  • Freedom of Choice

    In today's security landscape, we are witnessing a fundamental transformation in how organizations manage digital evidence. Law enforcement agencies, campus security teams, and large facility operators face increasingly complex challenges with expanding video data, tightening budget constraints and inflexible systems that limit innovation. Read Now

  • Accelerating a Pathway

    There is a new trend touting the transformational qualities of AI’s ability to deliver actionable data and predictive analysis that in many instances, seems to be a bit of an overpromise. The reality is that very few solutions in the cyber-physical security (CPS) space live up to this high expectation with the one exception being the new generation of Physical Identity and Access Management (PIAM) software – herein recategorized as PIAM+. Read Now

  • Protecting Your Zones

    It is game day. You can feel the crowd’s energy. In the parking lot. At the gate. In the stadium. On the concourse. Fans are eager to party. Food and merchandise vendors ready themselves for the rush. Read Now

  • Street Smarts

    The ongoing acceptance of AI and advanced data analytics has allowed surveillance camera technology to shift from being a tactical tool to a strategic business solution. Combining traditional surveillance technology with AI-based data-driven insights can streamline transportation systems, enhance traffic management, improve situational awareness, optimize resource allocation and streamline emergency response procedures. Read Now

  • The Progress of Biometrics

Most   Popular

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.