By David Harris
Flint Journal
FLINT, Mich. — Police will soon have more of Flint’s streets in their sights - with surveillance cameras paid for by local store owners looking to curb violence around their businesses.
Flint police currently operate one camera - mounted in August at Cecil and Jewell drives on a pole and marked “police” with a blue light that flashes 24 hours a day - and credited it with a significant drop in crime in the area.
The department has wanted to expand the camera program. Now, local store owners are opening their tills to fund the effort applauded by neighbors but sometimes seen as intrusive.
The effort was announced Thursday when the American-Arab Heritage Council hosted a meeting with grocery store owners and interim Police Chief David Dicks at the Northbank Center.
Alex Isaac, executive director of the council, said there has been a rash of crimes recently.
“The vision is these cameras will help prevent crime from happening,” he said. “If there is one less crime, that is good for the neighborhood, not just the grocery store.”
The city previously announced a program in which it hoped to raise $420,000 to buy about 14 cameras and offered to put sponsors’ names on the cameras in exchange for cash.
Issac said a group of about 10 store owners will solicit donations from other business owners, but they don’t yet know exactly how much they’ll be able to give.
The goal is simply to raise as much as they can.
The cameras would be mounted outside stores in high-traffic or high-crime areas and could be accessed live by police officers from their cars or the office.
Dicks said the next stop will include drafting a proposal and presenting it to the City Council.
“This marks maybe the first time in Flint that store owners and the Flint Police Department have merged and become partners in fighting crime,” Dicks said.
That makes store owners, such as George Abuaita, happy. Abuaita owns Sims Market at the corner of Pierson Road and King Avenue.
“I think it’s a good idea for the cameras,” he said. “It should prevent some crimes.”
But the thought of cameras recording residents’ moves worries Margo Quintanilla, 38, of Burton, who works in Flint.
“It seems like it’s infringing on your right to privacy,” she said. “It seems very Big Brother considering we have wonderful patrolmen.”
But for Anthony Boose, who was shot in the back and legs on King Avenue in September, the cameras are an important safety measure.
“I would feel a little more comfortable,” he said. “Crime has been crazy. You get cameras and once (criminals) know about them, it keeps them away.”
Alvin Reid, president of the Trumbull Street Drive Block Club, said installing cameras at neighborhood stores is a great idea. Knowing the police are watching will make people feel safer and cut down on crime, he said.
“This whole country is going to cameras. They’re even on the expressway,” Reid said. “I think (Dicks) is just bringing the city into the 21st century. We’ve all got to be on the same page if we want to stop crime.”
Copyright 2008 Flint Journal