Mayor announces next steps on surveillance

Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson today announced her decision on how to proceed with the city's surveillance pilot project, and answered questions from journalists. She also announced she will be holding a town hall next Friday at Town Hall Seattle so the public can take part in a more in-depth conversation on this issue, and have a further chance to weigh in on this issue with the mayor directly.  

The mayor's full remarks as prepared for delivery are available on the mayor's blog at wilson.seattle.gov. The section announcing her decision is quoted below:

First, I am pausing expansion of this pilot until we have completed a privacy and data governance audit, and taken significant steps to strengthen those policies. 

In the meantime, the RTCC will continue to operate and existing cameras will remain in place.

There are two specific circumstances where I am making additional, targeted decisions.

- First: Given the unique nature of the upcoming World Cup and the current geopolitical situation, I have chosen to move forward with the installation of the cameras in the Stadium District slated for this spring. However, they will not be turned on and will not be connected to the RTCC unless we are aware of a credible threat which warrants such action. They will be turned off once that threat subsides.

- And second: I am turning off one currently installed camera which has a view of a facility which provides reproductive healthcare and gender affirming care. I have confirmed that SPD’s current practice is  to  mask  or “blur” those locations, but until we've completed a comprehensive security audit and have stronger safeguards in place, I don’t believe it’s worth taking that risk.

In the event of a surge of immigration enforcement similar to what was seen in Minneapolis, I will turn off all cameras in order to prevent them from being abused by federal authorities. While it is already policy that SPD may not share information with ICE absent a court order, I am also directing SPD to immediately inform the Mayor and Council if we learn of any information sharing with ICE of any kind, even if that information is unrelated to the CCTV program.  

Finally, I am temporarily pausing all use of Automatic License Plate Readers, or ALPRs, which capture and record the license plates of all vehicles in a specific area. The state legislature recently added welcome new restrictions to limit the potential abuse of this technology. We will pause the use of this tool in Seattle until we can ensure that our practices are consistent with the new state law and reflect the best safety and security policies.  

The mayor's complete remarks as prepared for delivery are available on her blog at wilson.seattle.gov