Policing Experiments in a Shrinking City: Detroit's Project Green Light

Keywords: Detroit, surveillance, policing, privatization, urban decline, racial justice
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 22

Abstract

Following a larger trend of privatization of policing and incarceration, the economic decline and racial disparities in the majority Black city of Detroit have made it the site of experimentation in the realm of public safety. Austerity measures have pushed responsibilities of policing and surveillance into management by the private sector, through the citywide Project Green Light (PGL). Through this initiative, the Detroit Police Department has, “installed real-time camera connections with police headquarters as part of a ground-breaking crime-fighting partnership between local businesses, the City of Detroit and community groups”, as the “first public-private-community partnership of its kind, blending a mix of real-time crime-fighting and community policing aimed at improving neighborhood safety, promoting the revitalization and growth of local businesses” (City of Detroit, 2019). Using discourse analysis of interviews and policy documents this paper will address the following: 1) What discursive practices are used by city officials and private actors that have allowed for the development and promotion of this strategy, and how do participating businesses understand this rhetoric? and 2) What are the social implications of the use of private partnerships to surveille public spaces on a citywide scale? This paper will shed light on the ways that communities living in a declining city view security threats, and how public discourse influences the ways that they view themselves and their fellow citizens. Further, the paper will draw lessons about how discourse promoting social control by fellow citizens may be mobilized to other localities, and potential impacts for racial justice.