In the past, camera trailers have been used to monitor events like the National Cherry Festival.
Before Traverse City had two camera setups of its own, the Michigan State Police would send its camera trailers to Cherry Festival.
But now that Traverse City police has two in its possession, the department has stationed them in public places like Open Space Park along West Bay and Hull Park near the library.
Community Affairs Sgt. Reed Shea said Hull Park was chosen because of calls from residents.
“They're frustrated because of homeless individuals that may congregate there, or issues that they're seeing, city ordinance violations,” Shea said. “We don't have the ability to be down there all the time … so based on these concerns that we've gotten from the public, we can place one of these trailers."
Police Capt. Pete Simerson says the cameras purposes are to deter crimes, and to aid investigations if a crime is reported in the area.
“Officers have to have probable cause,” Simerson said. “They have to have a reason for going back and pulling the footage and then uploading that to be sent to the prosecutor.”
The cameras, however, are capable of sending a live video stream to the police station. Shea said that function is used for events like Cherry Festival.
“I know people do have concerns,” Shea said. “If individuals are thinking … that [the camera] is being utilized to know who people are and track where they are, [like] a ‘big brother’ type thing. That's really not what we're utilizing them for,” he said. “It's simply a public safety thing, and to be able to provide a service to the community that is of the highest level.”
Shea said the department does not use facial recognition on the cameras and that they “currently do not use any type of AI assistance with the camera trailers, at this time.”
Each camera cost $39,000. One was purchased by the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority, and the other was purchased by the department after an anonymous donation.
