The council endorsed two measures that add surveillance cameras to three new neighborhoods, incorporates hundreds of Seattle Department of Transportation cameras and expands the reach of the Seattle Police Department's new Real Time Crime Center. Both pieces of legislation are part of a pilot program begun last year and expanded Tuesday before their efficacy could be measured.
Councilmember Bob Kettle, the chair of the public safety committee and sponsor of the bills, said the measures were rushed in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup games in Seattle this spring, but had the support of many small businesses and residents who want crime addressed.
These bills are designed to come together and support each other and to support our communities," Kettle said. He said he recognizes the threat by an overzealous federal government but assures the measures reflect "the Seattle way" where constitutional policing and respect of rights are prioritized.
Kettle, a former naval intelligence commander, made it clear that "we do not need the National Guard."
"Our federal government has taken on an authoritarian nature and approach that parallels strikingly similar other examples from history," Kettle said. "It's about having the high standard. SPD does not use face coverings, they have to announce themselves, they have to identify themselves — things that are not happening with federal law enforcement."
An amendment offered by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and supported by Kettle would pull the plug on the Real Time Crime Center and all gathering of video and data for at least 60 days if the federal government subpoenas or otherwise tries to use the information for immigration enforcement. It passed unanimously. Several other amendments intended to limit or evaluate the success of the police surveillance failed.
Rinck voted against both measures to expand police surveillance, along with Councilmember Dan Strauss. Rinck, in an emotional speech, ran down a litany of reasons she did so. The Real Time Crime Center and its use of surveillance is a pilot program funded only last year and isn't working full time, yet the council is moving to expand it.
"That is being reckless with people's privacy," she said. "So why are we rushing to do this when the data we requested hasn't even been collected, and why are we doing this at a time when the Trump administration is using any means necessary to take this exact data to target trans people, immigrants and people seeking reproductive health care?"
"Why do we think we're so special, when all across the U.S., in other liberal and blue cities where communities live … we've seen these data breaches and weaponization of data?" she asked, her voice cracking. "And now the Trump regime is threatening to send troops into blue cities … intentionally blaming sanctuary cities, just like we have here in Washington and Seattle?"
Cameras are currently installed along North Aurora Avenue, in the downtown Third Avenue corridor and near 12th Avenue and Jackson Street in the Chinatown International District. Mayor Bruce Harrell has proposed expanding surveillance to areas around Garfield High School, the nightlife area on Capitol Hill and the Stadium District.
The proposals faced broad opposition from civil libertarians and community groups. Opponents included more than 60 community groups, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, the Community Police Commission and the Community Surveillance Advisory Working Group, among others.
The proposal also boosts the ability and reach of the Real Time Crime Center, using software that would employ artificial intelligence to help collate and combine data from city closed-circuit cameras, SDOT cameras, police automated license-plate readers installed on patrol cars, dash and body cameras, and some private surveillance cameras whose owners register with the city.
More than 100 residents spoke at the meeting Tuesday.
Among them was Chris Rojas, a computer expert who told the council the use of surveillance to track individuals on the ground was introduced as "a tool of war" in Iraq and then brought home and adopted by police.
"Does Seattle, a liberal stronghold that has routinely stood up to Trump, want to install a tool of war against its people, a mass surveillance system that can be used, that can be taken over, by the federal government to target anyone?" he asked.
Britt Lambert, who lives in the Central District, said she spent two years working in national security in the District of Columbia in both the Biden and Trump administrations.
"I'm not against surveillance in general all the time … I understand that sometimes it is needed," she said. "But I do not trust the Trump administration to not go after this data."
Olivia Green, who identified themself as an LGBTQ resident of Seattle, argued the expanded surveillance "disproportionately targets Black, Indigenous and other people of color, queer people, people with disabilities and low-income and houseless" residents.
The Trump administration has threatened increased immigration enforcement in Seattle as a "sanctuary city" and possibly to deploy National Guard troops, as has happened in the District of Columbia.
"We know that federal authorities are currently using these tools and the data they capture to surveil immigrants and those seeking gender affirming care," the ACLU wrote in a joint statement with the immigrant and refugee rights group OneAmerica and the Asian Counseling and Referral Service. "Once surveillance data is collected, it is notoriously challenging to protect against federal misuse."
Another letter presented to the council was signed by 18 community organizations including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington and the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
"We are deeply concerned that the expansion of these tools will create an infrastructure where federal agencies can more readily target vulnerable communities, including immigrants and refugees," the letter read.
Likewise, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, in a policy briefing paper published last month, advised the council against expansion of surveillance and associated technologies contained in the two ordinances, questioning whether they are effective in fighting crime and expressing concerns that "surveillance technologies can discourage civil engagement, weaken constitutional protections, and reinforce inequitable patterns of policing, monitoring and enforcement."
Indeed, the city's Community Surveillance Advisory Working Group, appointed to review and assess new surveillance technologies and report to the mayor and City Council, has raised significant concerns about the expansion legislation based on a review of the legislation and "overwhelmingly negative" public comments.
"The working group conducted a review of all provided materials … including the … proposal from Seattle Police Department, letters from Seattle community organizations, and public comments," the group wrote in a Surveillance Impact Report issued in July. "After reviewing the information, a majority of the working group is unsupportive of any pilot deployment of these two technologies."
Harrell supports the legislation as a "force multiplier" for police and tool to fight violent crime while the city attempts to recruit more police officers. Harrell is in a tight race for reelection with progressive candidate Katie Wilson, who on Tuesday urged the City Council to reject the measures.
"Turning on more cameras won't magically make our neighborhoods safer," Wilson stated in a release. "But it will certainly make our neighbors more vulnerable."
Expanding the RTCC and adding closed-circuit cameras for the center "will make it all too easy for the federal government to target Seattleites.
"There could not be a worse time for Seattle to rush through the expansion of surveillance," Wilson said.
In a letter to the City Council, Seattle police Chief Shon Barnes — responding to the Community Police Commission and Office for Civil Rights concerns — said the department is "committed to advancing strategies that both protect public safety and uphold civil rights and improve recourse for crime victims."
"I hear the concerns that have been raised and fully recognize that facts and assurances may not alleviate those concerns," Barnes wrote. "I want to reassure all the people of Seattle that we are here to serve and protect you. That's true regardless of your immigration status (we won't ask) or your need for reproductive health care or gender affirming care."
The chief said the city has "significant safeguards," including the limited intake of video information, limited access to that information and limited distribution to third parties. Barnes noted that Real Time Crime Centers have been in operation in major cities for years and "improve police efficiency, aid rapid emergency response, and strengthen investigative outcomes.
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