Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety to purchase new body, car camera system

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — The Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Department is getting new body and in-car cameras to replace its old system.

During a Farms City Council meeting Aug. 13, Public Safety Director John Hutchins said the city’s current camera system provider, Safe Fleet, was “going the way of all of the other camera manufacturers” and switching to a cloud-based system. He said Safe Fleet will stop supporting the system that the Farms uses in January 2025, necessitating a new system.

The Farms City Council unanimously approved a low bid Aug. 13 from Byron Center, Michigan-based Pro-Vision for $173,642, which includes 35 new body cameras, installation of in-car cameras in nine vehicles, unlimited cloud storage, camera recharging docks and free replacement of body cameras with the latest model after 30 months. Funds for the purchase were included in the Public Safety Department’s budget for the current fiscal year. Pro-Vision was one of three bidders.

Hutchins said the bid from Safe Fleet was substantially higher and didn’t include new cameras, installation or unlimited storage. Because of the rising costs associated with Safe Fleet, he said the city sought bids not only from it but also two other “very well-known companies in law enforcement” that provided these systems, one of which was Pro-Vision.

“Pro-Vision provided the best value for the money,” Hutchins said.

Seven years ago, when the department asked for a more powerful server, officers were downloading and burning camera footage to Blu-ray Discs, Hutchins said. At that time, he said, many major law enforcement agencies — including the Michigan State Police — were apprehensive about the security of cloud-based storage.

“We’ll continue to maintain the discs and the server for as long as we have to, as long as we can,” Hutchins said.

City Councilman Lev Wood asked about data storage problems in the cloud, such as hacking and software issues.

“I guess I’m concerned about the security,” Wood said.

Hutchins acknowledged that concern.

“So were we, which is why we didn’t go to (a cloud-based system) seven years ago,” Hutchins said. “We have not been presented with anything problematic (in the systems now). … Obviously, things have improved.”

As to why Pro-Vision’s bid was about $50,000 to $60,000 lower than that of the two other firms, Hutchins said it’s a newer company — launched 12 years ago — and it’s trying to establish itself. Hutchins said the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department acquired the Pro-Vision camera system in 2021 and “they’ve been very happy with the cameras.” He said more than 80 other departments in Michigan use Pro-Vision as well.

“We’ve heard a lot of good things about them,” Hutchins said of Pro-Vision.

Another benefit to Pro-Vision, said Hutchins, is the fact that they were the only one of the three bidders based in Michigan, so if there are issues with equipment, it will be easier and faster to get things fixed or replaced.

The Farms and Grosse Pointe Woods are the only departments in the Pointes that issue every officer in their departments a personal body camera, Hutchins said, noting that the other departments have common cameras that are used by multiple officers. He said giving all officers their own cameras provides greater accountability. The animal control and parking enforcement officers in the Farms also have their own body cameras, Hutchins said.

City Councilman John Gillooly, an attorney who represents a number of municipalities, said “just about every case” he sees these days involving law enforcement uses a cloud-based camera system. He said there are “strong assurances” this footage can’t be accessed by just anyone.

“It’s pretty sophisticated these days,” Gillooly said.

Hutchins said after roughly 120 days, body and car camera footage will start to automatically delete, unless it’s tagged, in which case it’s preserved forever. He said not all footage needs to be saved indefinitely, such as some routine traffic stops.

Deputy Public Safety Director Andrew Rogers said the new cameras are expected to arrive by the beginning of next year.