HAPPENING NOW: Mayor Wilson says she’s authorizing surveillance camera use expansion
11:23 AM: We’re at City Hall, where Mayor Katie Wilson and interim Police Chief Andre Sayles are about to brief the media on the long-promised results of a surveillance-camera (etc.) audit; in the words of the advisory, to: “announce next steps on CCTV cameras, following the NYU Policing Project’s audit of Seattle’s Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) and closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems.” You can see the audit report here. You can watch the livestream of this event here; the mayoral conference room here is packed. We’ll update as it goes.
The mayor says she’s motivated by concerns for people’s safety – both in the federal crackdown, and in violent crime.” She says she has three points: #1, the city has relatively few cameras compared to other cities of this size. She’s heard from camera opponents … and from residents and businesspeople victimized by shootings who want the city to use “every tool.” She has repeated several points of cameras’ pros and cons. She says the new audit also underscored that – saying some safeguards are in place, but there are gaps.
She says the RTCC has an “important role” and can use cameras carefully. “That does not mean cameras on every streetcorner.” She adds “I also want to emphasize that these are not Flock cameras.” She is authorizing SPD to move forward with camera-use expansion in neighborhoods including SODO and Capitol Hill. (West Seattle is not mentioned.) She says it’ll take 4 to 6 months to get this all rolled out. SPD will in the meantime roll out a dashboard.
11:32 AM: She’s discussing the various safeguards that will be implemented. And she notes that post-Bite of Seattle shooting, there’s been talk of studying camera additions at Seattle Center. In the short run, she says, integrating private cameras in that area via the Connect Seattle program is a good intermediate step.
“I am dedicated to making Seattle the safest big city in the country,” she declares, in summarizing her decision. But she also notes that Seattle has a history of limiting/monitoring police powers, and that won’t change.
