We the people demand an immediate Cease and Desist on the $1 million state grant and local permits for Capture Group Inc., an Israeli-based defense contractor setting up a drone and weapons testing facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan without local taxpayer consent or transparency.

 

To: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and the Sterling Heights City Council.

We, the residents, families, and taxpayers of Sterling Heights and the State of Michigan, formally launch this petition to sound the alarm and demand an immediate Cease and Desist on all state incentives, local permitting, and development plans for Capture Group Inc. (Capture Systems Ltd.).

The State of Michigan has quietly approved nearly $1 million in public incentives (part of a $5 million project) to bring this foreign defense contractor directly into Macomb County.

Their official plans are to manufacture and physically test counter-drone platforms, optical surveillance equipment, and remotely operated weapons systems right in our region.

We do not consent to this project, we were never asked, and we refuse to let it happen in secret.

 

🚨 WHY THIS IS A CRITICAL ISSUE FOR EVERY CITIZEN:

Massive Infringement on Constitutional Privacy Rights: Capture Systems specializes in homeland security, advanced tracking, and drone technologies. Operating and testing military-grade optical surveillance equipment and drone platforms within our local municipal borders poses an immediate, systemic threat to our Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

We refuse to let our community become a testing testing ground for advanced tracking tech that can easily be turned against everyday citizens.

Egregious Misuse of Taxpayer Dollars: Public tax revenues belong to the people of Michigan. They are collected to fix our roads, fund our public schools, and support local communities. 

Giving $1,000,000 of our hard-earned money to subsidize a private, foreign military tech company is a blatant violation of public trust. 

We explicitly refuse to have our paychecks forcibly weaponized to fund the military-industrial complex.

A Tyrannical, Non-Transparent Process: This massive deal was pushed through by state-level administrative boards completely behind the scenes.

There was no local town hall, no community notice, and absolutely no public referendum allowing the actual citizens of Sterling Heights to cast a "No" vote. Forcing controversial military and surveillance infrastructure into a community without the explicit, democratic consent of the governed is the textbook definition of tyrannical overreach.

The Dangerous Escalation of Local Surveillance: Our community is already fighting massive local surveillance expansions, from police drone programs to the highly contested Flock license plate tracking cameras that residents are actively packing City Hall to oppose. 

Allowing a private defense contractor to build a base for advanced surveillance and remote weapons testing directly compounds this threat to our civil liberties.

 

OUR MANDATORY DEMANDS:

A state grant does not override the supreme will of the people. We are calling on our public servants to exercise the constitutional checks and balances they swore an oath to uphold:

 

   1. The MEDC and the State of Michigan must immediately revoke the approved $1M grant funding and activate contractual clawback or termination clauses.

   2. The Sterling Heights City Council must exercise their municipal veto and aggressively DENY all local zoning variances, building permits, and occupancy certificates required for this facility to open or operate.

   3. Capture Group Inc. must take notice that they do not have the consent of the people and must immediately halt their expansion plans.

 

Sign this petition right now to expose this backroom deal, protect our constitutional privacy, and tell Lansing and City Hall: No taxpayer money for surveillance tech, and no defense facilities in Sterling Heights without our vote!