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Audit of Seattle Police Department's Real-Time Crime Center
We may get an answer to a hot-button public safety question that has lingered for months in Seattle: Whether or not Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson will turn surveillance cameras back on.
SEATTLE - One day after an audit by New York University revealed that the Seattle Police Department's Real-Time Crime Center was susceptible to concerns surrounding privacy, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said she is moving forward with the expansion of CCTV cameras in the city.
In a news release, Wilson noted that while her administration is continuing the planned expansion of cameras, it will be accompanied by "increasing safeguards to protect privacy and civil liberties."
Some of the areas slated to receive new cameras are locations around Garfield High School and the Capitol Hill nightlife district.
The mayor added that cameras that were already installed in the Stadium District before the World Cup will be activated immediately.
What they're saying:
"After reviewing the evidence, the recommendations, and the safeguards available to us, I believe there is an important and responsible role for the RTCC within Seattle's public-safety system," Wilson said. "I've heard from Seattle residents who strongly oppose the use of these cameras, and I understand why … I've also heard from residents, workers and small-business owners in neighborhoods experiencing persistent shootings, trafficking and serious crime who are asking city government to use every responsible tool available to help keep them safe."
Wilson continued to say that she is committed to making Seattle a safe city from issues like gun violence and serious crime, but also from "authoritarianism from the federal government."
The decision was met with approval by Seattle councilmember Rob Saka and Andre Sayles, the interim police chief.
"I applaud Mayor Wilson for heeding the community’s call and activating the Stadium District CCTV cameras," Saka said. "With clear privacy protections, limited access, and strong oversight, Seattle can improve safety while protecting civil liberties."
Sayles said that the process shows Seattle's commitment to public safety, but also to protetcting privacy rights and civil liberty concerns. "We do not take the public’s trust in the Seattle Police Department for granted and will always continue to take steps to safeguard it."
NYU audit urges warrants for Seattle police surveillance video
An independent audit by NYU School of Law recommends requiring judicial warrants before Seattle police use surveillance networks to retrospectively track an individual’s movements.
The other side:
The Community Not Cameras Coalition said that the NYU audit released by the city on Monday confirms that the expansion of cameras in Seattle does more harm than good, and even cited Mayor Wilson's previous comments as further reasoning why the city should prevent expansion.
"The Mayor ran on a platform to Trump-proof Seattle and she vowed to defend the City’s status as a sanctuary city," a statement from a spokesperson for the organization read. "She promised to revisit SPD’s camera pilot with attention to how the City stores the data, how others could use it, and how it affects vulnerable communities. She said the City must be mindful of the data it collects on people who travel here for abortion and gender-affirming care."
The statement continued, "This audit has answered these same questions with answers that community members have been saying from the beginning…SPD applies no privacy masking to the private cameras that feed the RTCC and sets no limit on how long businesses keep that footage. There are no audits to detect improper or unlawful abuses of these systems. The cameras watch neighborhoods with a larger share of people of color. None of the audit’s recommendations puts that footage beyond federal reach."
Dig deeper:
The mayor also said that the following steps will be taken by her office and SPD to ensure that the recommendations of the NYU audit are implemented:
- SPD will complete and publish a public dashboard to report on RTCC usage.
- SPD will complete its omnibus surveillance technology policy that will address internal processes for technology approval and procurement.
- SPD will clarify and strengthen its policies and practices around permissible uses, access criteria and logs, data retention periods, requests from outside agencies, regular internal audits, and more, as recommended by the audit.
- SPD and the Mayor’s Office, with guidance from the advisory group, will work to develop additional policies around private camera integration, usage of the RTCC during large-scale events, protests and other First Amendment activity, and criteria guiding any future CCTV camera placements.
The backstory:
The debate surrounding cameras being activated in Seattle became more apparent following the Bite of Seattle shooting, particularly after it was revealed that police couldn't use surveillance cameras near Seattle Center and were forced to rely on other sources of video.
Following the shooting, leaders of Seattle’s major sports stadiums, arenas, and public event spaces asked Mayor Katie Wilson to immediately reactivate 22 police surveillance cameras in the Stadium District and Pioneer Square.
Then, on Aug. 17, The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce pointed to new polling that shows broad voter support for the technology.
In late October, Wilson's office said it had received the previously ordered audit and began reviewing it, but didn't provide the public with a copy of the draft. Instead, she said that the public would receive the completed version.
What's next:
The mayor did not say when cameras would be going up near Garfield High School or the Capitol Hill nightlife district, but said it will be happening "in the coming months."
The Source: Information for this story came from previous reporting by FOX 13 Seattle and a news release from Mayor Katie Wilson's office.
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