An SPD security camera above 12th Ave
As privacy advocates and those concerned about misuse of the technology by law enforcement and federal authorities continue their press, Mayor Katie Wilson is also facing a public campaign from the Seattle Police Department and City Hall advocates for the surveillance for the expansion of the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras to Capitol Hill and the Central District.
So far, the new mayor seems willing to let the approved deployment play out. SPD says its stats justify the need.
According to a data analysis released by the Seattle Police Department last month, police are “three times more likely” to make an arrest in a case when working with the analysts who staff the Real Time Crime Center with access to a network of police and traffic cameras across the city, and access to important databases and resources that can be used to identify suspects and vehicles — and sometimes track them across Seattle.
SPD says it analyzed 220,000 911 responses over a nine-month period between the launch of the Crime Center and the end of February. “This finding — from SPD’s Performance Analytics & Research group –underscores the department’s commitment to transparency, continuous improvement, and evidence-based policing,” SPD said.
The department did not release the full analysis to the public.
The City Council’s public safety committee chair Bob Kettle has also turned up support of the cameras and Crime Center approach, posting a long rebuttal of criticisms and “setting the record straight” on misconceptions” about SPD’s technology and its capabilities.
“CCTV footage is specifically helpful for investigations and prosecutions of violent crimes and property crimes,” Kettle writes. “When used in combination with the Real-Time Crime Center, CCTV footage reduces response times and police presence, and increases trust and safety. It can help address property crime and has always been intended to help with a variety of crimes beyond violent crime.”
So far, the cameras planned for Pike/Pine and the Central District remain un-deployed.
SPD’s CCTV map shows where the cameras are already in place and where they’re planned to be deployed
CHS reported here in January as Wilson said she was “reviewing options” for a pause on the planned expansion over concerns about federal misuse of the technology.
In September, the council approved SPD’s Real Time Crime Center camera expansion including final debate about data privacy and how SPD said it will handle any potential legal wrangling with outside agencies like ICE.
The Capitol Hill camera boundaries will cover the core of the Pike/Pine neighborhood along E Pike and E Pine between Broadway and 12th Ave with a mapped extension along Nagle Place and Broadway north of the core all the way to Denny/E Barbara Bailey Way and the southern edge of Capitol Hill Station and its Sound Transit security camera installations. The camera zone would stretch to the backside of Pike/Pine along E Union.
In the Central District, the Harrell administration and District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth pushed for the camera system to be centered around safety at Garfield High School with boundaries running from a block north of the school along E Cherry all the way to S Jackson. The western edge will include 20th Ave and the eastern edge would extend along 26th Ave.
The additions will expand the SPD Real Time Crime Center surveillance camera system to include the Capitol Hill nightlife core around E Pike and Cal Anderson Park and a major swath of the Central District from E Cherry to Jackson police officials say is necessary to prevent gun violence.
The Capitol Hill system is estimated to cost around $400,000 to install and $35,000 a year to operate. The Central District installation has a budget of $425,000 and also an estimated $35,000 in “ongoing annual costs.”
While not yet operational here, East Precinct officers make regular requests of RTCC analysts for information about suspicious vehicles or suspect photographs from the center’s databases. With the Real Time Crime Center’s current limited footprint, many of those East Precinct requests currently go unfilled.
SPD says the Center is now staffed 19 hours per day, seven days a week, combining “technology with real-time analysis to improve public safety outcomes.”
As SPD and advocates like Kettle are calling for the city to stay the course on the cameras, Wilson is facing backlash over what supporters say were campaign promises to address the planned expansion. The Burner reports on a petition taking shape to pressure the mayor and ask her to answer to campaign social media posts that boldly stated “turning on more cameras won’t magically make our neighborhoods safer.”
Meanwhile, SPD’s Capitol Hill camera surveillance, it turns out, includes an already active view of the neighborhood that has probably been in place for years including through the summer of CHOP. Privacy and police watchdog Hard Pressed reported on a single security camera perched atop the Community Roots Housing mixed-use 12th Ave Arts development just across the street from the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine.
“A review of historical Google Maps street views show that the camera appears to have been installed between August 2015 and July 2017,” the site reports, noting SPD did not declare the CCTV camera in a Master List of surveillance technologies submitted to the city council in 2017 as it shaped Seattle’s 2018 surveillance ordinance.
“Video recording in progress” signs were installed on the East Precinct building sometime after 2019.
CHS asked an SPD spokesperson how the camera above 12th Ave is currently being used.
“Security,” was the reply.
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