Islands get surveillance cams - Harsen's Island & Gull Island

The Macomb Daily News

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working on plans to erect three aerial towers carrying video surveillance cameras on two islands in Lake St. Clair, according to state and local officials.

Federal officials want to place the towers on Harsens Island and Gull Island, both located in St. Clair County waters to focus on the Canadian shoreline for drug smuggling, illegal immigration and human trafficking.

"That's definitely one of our security issues," said Russell Gullett, chief of staff for the Michigan Department of Homeland Security.


Under the plan, two towers would be constructed on Harsens Island and one on Gull Island. Each would be equipped with 360-degree surveillance cameras that would monitor the waterways 24 hours a day.

The project's cost and timetable were not immediately available this week. Gullett referred a reporter to Al Shenouda, a protective security adviser for the federal Homeland Security department in Detroit.

Shenouda did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.

Gullett said the surveillance cameras were part of the ongoing Secure Border Initiative, a multi-year plan aimed at beefing up security for America's borders.

As part of SBI's multibillion-dollar budget, funding has been allocated for new technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors and video surveillance camera systems.

Numerous camera towers have been put in place in many other states, ranging from Arizona to New Jersey, according to published media reports.

Federal officials in January met with workers at the Clay Township building department to inquire about township regulations regarding the height of towers.

Township regulations restrict the height to 35 feet and the proposed towers are taller and would technically require approval by the community's zoning board of appeals, said Michael Kras, the township's building official.

"They made some inquiries to us but we haven't heard back from them in several weeks," Kras said.

One of the towers on Harsens Island would be built near the Old Club yacht club, while the second would go up near the island's entrance.

It wasn't known where the Gull Island tower would be placed or whether the federal government would bar public access to the island by building a fence around it.

Gull Island in Muscamoot Bay — an uninhabited, undeveloped chunk of mass in Lake St. Clair about five miles east of Metro Beach— is best known for its raucous summertime boating party known as Jobbie Nooner. The island is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Harsens Island is an inhabited island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. Both islands are under the jurisdiction of Clay Township for local government operations.

Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, whose marine patrol works in cooperation with St. Clair County's boat patrols, hasn't been briefed on the plan, but is in support of it.

"Anything we can do to help secure our borders, I'm all for it," Hackel said.

DTE Energy spokesman Scott Simons confirmed the utility has been contacted about providing electricity to the towers but had no further information.