Project Green Light
Detroit's oldest and largest surveillance program streams hundreds of cameras to police. It has solved cases — and it's where the city's facial-recognition story began.
What you need to know
Project Green Light camera locations livestream to Detroit police, fed into a Real-Time Crime Center — making it the city's largest and oldest live-camera program (2016–present).
Businesses pay to join and supporters credit the program with deterring crime and helping solve cases; the bright green lights are meant to signal a watched, safer place.
Of 69 facial-recognition searches DPD ran in 2021, 68 — about 98% — were of Black people. Independent mapping finds Green Light cameras cluster in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of a 77%-Black city.
In 2017 the city added DataWorks Plus facial recognition that could run against the Green Light network. Three Black Detroiters — Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, Porcha Woodruff — were wrongfully arrested after misidentification, leading to a 2024 settlement with the nation's strongest limits.
What it is
Project Green Light launched in 2016 with eight gas stations and grew into the city's signature surveillance program: more than 850 locations — stores, restaurants, gas stations, apartment buildings, churches, and parks — with high-definition cameras that livestream to the Detroit Police Department's Real-Time Crime Center. A glowing green light marks each site. Businesses apply and pay for the cameras and connection; the city prioritizes their calls.
Over time the program became the backbone of a larger system. The same Real-Time Crime Center now also draws on freeway license-plate readers, a camera-equipped surveillance van, and — added in 2017 — DataWorks Plus facial-recognition software that can be run against camera images.
The case supporters make
Supporters — including many business owners who chose to join — say the cameras deter crime and help police respond faster and solve cases, and that a visible green light tells customers a place takes safety seriously. The city has pointed to incidents where Green Light footage helped identify suspects, and some owners credit it with making them and their staff feel safer.
For a business on a tough corner, the argument is practical: a camera the police are already watching can mean a quicker response than a 911 call alone. That's a real benefit to weigh honestly.
The questions people are asking
The first question is where the cameras are. Independent mapping finds Green Light densest in Detroit's predominantly Black neighborhoods — which is why researchers and residents ask whether it concentrates police attention by race, not just by crime. The second is what it connects to: a camera is one thing; a camera wired to facial recognition and a plate-reader network is another.
Detroit has already lived the cost of getting that wrong. After facial recognition was run against this kind of footage, three Black residents were wrongfully arrested — one while eight months pregnant. Their cases produced a 2024 settlement that the ACLU calls the strongest police facial-recognition limits in the country. The questions now are the unglamorous, durable ones: who can watch the feeds, how long footage is kept, what it's matched against, and whether the rules are written down where residents can see them.
A camera can help solve a crime and still deserve clear rules about who watches it, and what it's wired to. Understanding both is how a city keeps trust.
Voices
“I came home from work and was arrested in my driveway in front of my wife and daughters, because a computer made an error. I want to make sure that this never happens to anyone else.”
Robert Williams
Detroiter wrongfully arrested after facial recognition was run on camera footage
ACLU of Michigan ↗“Face recognition technology can't tell Black people apart.”
ACLU of Michigan
on DPD's 2021 search data — 68 of 69 searches were of Black residents
ACLU of Michigan ↗Questions worth asking
Good questions for a good decision
- 01
Who can watch the Green Light feeds, and is that access logged?
- 02
How long is footage kept, and who can request or share it?
- 03
Is facial recognition ever run against Green Light footage today, and under what written rules?
- 04
Why are the cameras concentrated where they are — and is that distribution reviewed?
- 05
What does the program cost businesses and the city, and what's the measured effect on crime?
What a strong, open process looks like
Shared ground most people can agree on
Clear, public rules — ideally a city ordinance — on who accesses Green Light footage, how long it's kept, and what it can be matched against.
Full transparency on whether and how facial recognition touches the network, consistent with the 2024 settlement.
An honest, published evaluation of the program's effect on crime, weighed against its cost and its footprint.
Community review of where cameras go, so distribution is a decision made in the open.
Dates & decision points to watch
2016
Project Green Light launches with eight gas stations; grows to 850+ locations.
2017
DataWorks Plus facial recognition is added, able to run against camera images.
2020–2023
Three Black Detroiters are wrongfully arrested after facial-recognition misidentification.
Jun 2024
The Williams settlement sets the nation's strongest limits on police facial recognition.
Ongoing
The Real-Time Crime Center keeps adding feeds — plate readers, a surveillance van, bus cameras.
Primary sources
Every claim on this page links to its source. Some figures come from reporting that should be re-confirmed against primary records before a public hearing — we'd rather you verify than trust us. If you find an error, tell us and we'll fix it.
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