Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

While people turned out to the federal building to protest Trump’s war on Iran and ICE’s kidnappings at the facility on April 7, Our Seattle held a virtual town hall with Mayor Katie Wilson for a discussion on surveillance expansion and concerns. Community members in attendance brought forth an array of questions, with Mayor Wilson overwhelmingly repeating the same talking points as from previous events. 

Madeline Brown said surveillance systems need to be dismantled because databases will be breached. She provided an example of a Texas sheriff using data from thousands of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) to track down a woman who traveled out of state for an abortion, with 13 states having total abortion bans. Brown said the community is forced to rely on SPD acting in good faith, but that this data can still be breached and weaponized. 

“It can lead to prosecution, civil lawsuits, even violence. As to women who have been very open about our medically-necessary abortions, I have to ask: when, not if, when this data is breached and misused, who bears the responsibility for the harm done to patients whose movements have been tracked?” Brown asked. 

Mayor Wilson responded by stating that all ALPRs in the city are turned off, and that federal immigration officers have their own ALPRs. She noted how on several occassions, local law enforcement agencies have shared data with the federal government without knowing, but that this vulnerability lies within Flock cameras.

“Seattle’s ALPRs, my understanding is that they are not Flock, they are Axon, and those cameras do not have any kind of automatic data sharing setting so that there has to actually be a request from another agency for data in order for that to be shared. So that is one vulnerability that our system does not have— I’m not saying that that doesn’t mean that it has vulnerabilities,” Mayor Wilson said. 

Brown clarified that she was referencing data hacks, and that if this data cannot be produced, then it cannot be hacked or shared with bad actors. But there’s some benefit to this surveillance technology, Mayor Wilson said, and that they need to weigh the benefits and the risks. 

“I understand that there are some people here for whom the answer to that balance is no surveillance ever—turn it all off,” she said. “That’s not where I’m at at the moment, and I also don’t think that’s where Seattle residents, speaking broadly, are at.” 

In 2004, Castill Hightower’s brother, Herbert Hightower Jr., was experiencing a mental health crisis when SPD officers shot and killed him. She has been raising awareness for years about the lasting impacts of police brutality for victims and loved ones, and has recently co-authored a letter to the mayor and city councilmembers with several requests, including a timeline for ongoing meetings and the removal of barriers to police accountability. 

“Along with migrant families and other marginalized communities being put under unnecessary risk, police surveillance increases the likelihood of police brutality,” Hightower said. “How are any of our communities supposed to trust any of your statements regarding keeping us safe from state sanctioned violence when you refuse to listen to us and take our concerns and lived experiences seriously?” 

Mayor Wilson disingenuously said that she was glad Hightower met with her several weeks ago to share her experiences, and noted that staff is still in touch with her. 

“We have been talking with various of the city accountability departments and getting a clear picture so that we can have a conversation with you about how to move forward so that, you know, yes. Glad, glad to see you again,” she added, with a slight frown. 

Hightower said that victims of police brutality don’t feel like they are being included in conversations or having their voices heard and taken into account, and that they are receiving updates from the mayor’s office after making decisions. Another concern brought forth was that Axon is predicting that it will double its revenue by 2028 by up-selling new AI products to customers. 

“In 2025, we announced and shipped our entry into the fixed automatic license plate recognition segment in less than one year — supporting the expansion of our real-time operations platform with Axon Vehicle Intelligence. The solution brings license plate recognition, live streaming and real-time alerts into a unified, AI-powered Axon workflow. It goes beyond traditional ALPR with deeper vehicle descriptors such as make, color and visible damage — enabling more precise identification and broader situational awareness,” Axon stated in a February 24 press release. 

Mayor Wilson claimed Seattle does not use AI in policing and that its current technology has no ability to incorporate AI. She mentioned that using AI and facial recognition is against city law. The Surveillance Advisory Working Group’s recommendations are being ignored, another attendee said, highlighting how SPD falsified and omitted information from its reports, like exaggerated claims that surveillance technology leads to higher crime clearance rates— with the mayor repeating the police’s talking points. When asked why she isn’t taking the groups recommendations into consideration, she said that the CCTV Pilot Program expansion was approved last year, and that it is being paused until an audit that is expected to come out later this year. 

“I’m doing part of what they want me to do, which is we are not moving forward with the expansion while we look into the data security concerns,” Mayor Wilson said. 

An Our Seattle representative chimed in, stating that the mayor is choosing to continue to put up cameras, with 20 set to be installed in the Stadium District for the World Cup. Mayor Wilson claims these cameras will be turned off until there is a credible threat, but that city officials are still trying to define what a “credible threat” means and do not yet have a timeline to define it. The World Cup will come to Seattle beginning on June 11.

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