In an effort to state the state more than $13 million, the Michigan Department of Corrections has decided to eliminate the armed officers who protect the perimeter of 27 state prisons. The concern is that no one will be around to stop weapons, drugs, or other items from being thrown over the barbed wire fences to inmates. Instead, surveillance cameras around the perimeters will replace 120 patrol officers.
“We will have cameras watching those locations so that an officer sitting inside one of the prisons can see someone approach the fence and dispatch a vehicle with an armed officer,” says Russ Marian, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections. “The cameras will provide an enhanced level of security. We can watch all parts of a perimeter fence at all times instead of having one officer circling around.”