Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

The Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) is pressing Mayor Katie Wilson for an increase in surveillance resources, despite the fact that 20 CCTV cameras are set to be installed in the Stadium District ahead of the World Cup this June. For months, community members and leftist activists have been expressing the harm surveillance inflicts on vulnerable communities with hopes of getting the mayor to turn them off completely. 

“SPD analyzed 220,000 911 responses over the nine-month period between the launch of the RTCC [Real Time Crime Center] and the end of February 2026. This finding— from SPD’s Performance Analytics & Research group— underscores the department’s commitment to transparency, continuous improvement, and evidence-based policing. The department launched the RTCC in May 2025 to help police respond more effectively to emergency calls,” SPD stated in a March 5 blotter post, that was recently shared by SPOG on X. 

In this blotter post, SPD said Black Americans are 12 times more likely to die from firearm homicide than their white counterparts. It claimed the RTCC helps “victims of color,” because the “technology employed by the RTCC, specifically CCTV cameras, is deliberately concentrated in areas affected by violent crime.” The caption of the X post displayed SPOG’s frustration with Mayor Wilson’s pause of the CCTV Pilot Program, which may be resumed following results of an evaluation on the usefulness of surveillance for crime solving that is set to be completed by the end of the year. The NYU Precinct Project is also conducting an audit on Seattle’s data storage, security, sharing practices, privacy, and civil liberties, according to the mayor, but some say Seattle residents cannot wait nor depend on SPD to not share data with federal agencies.

“Along with migrant families and other marginalized communities being put under unnecessary risk, police surveillance increases the likelihood of police brutality,” Castill Hightower of Justice for Herbert said at an April 7 virtual town hall hosted by Our Seattle. “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?”

Footage from the city’s surveillance cameras is stored at the RTCC for five days before being erased, unless it is flagged for an incident. In that case, it gets stored on evidence.com, which is owned by Axon– a company that has had a long-term partnership with DHS by providing body-worn video cameras, AI software, and storage systems. Its servers are also located outside of the state, meaning it is not required to comply with Washington state privacy laws.

Not only can this surveillance footage easily slip into the hands a variety of harmful actors, but SPD also cannot be trusted to do the right thing, which is helping to keep Seattle residents safe.

SPOG: Socialism is bad

On April 14, SPOG published about a ten minute long video where its new president, Kent Loux, talks about why he believes socialist values are wrong. Loux said there have been increased mandates and corporate taxes, and public safety revolves around resources. To fund training, equipment, and patrols and operations in high crime areas, a large tax base is needed, he said. 

Mayor Wilson previously directed SPD to investigate ICE agents who are kidnapping residents, and former SPOG president Mike Solan found that idea to be preposterous— as does Loux. He doesn’t agree with pitting law enforcement agencies against one another, and said that SPD is about 375 officers short of its staffing goals, with there being 913 active officers. 

Matthew Humphrey, owner of Steele Barber, made several appearances in the clip, explaining how his three locations were broken into four times, with the issue being zero forced incarceration over substance use disorder or mental health challenges, leaving businesses to deal with the “cleanup.” 

“I think you need to become the most business-friendly city that you possibly can imagine, and enforcing low-level crime is really what’s going to do that,” Loux added. “You have to go after these misdemeanors. You have to go after these lower level, vagrant crimes that are detrimental to small business.” 

A no-joke April Fool’s update

Many April Fool’s Day posts circulated on social media this year, but SPOG’s X post from that day fed into its copaganda push for more surveillance. It flaunted CCTV footage that went viral of a man suddenly being shoved from behind towards an incoming train on a platform at the Northgate Light Rail Station. 

“Not by chance. Not by luck. Because investigators had access to public CCTV,” SPOG stated. “Now imagine this case without the footage. That’s exactly what’s at risk. [Mayor Wilson’s] decision to pause the RTCC program— the very system that gives investigators access to these cameras— means fewer leads, slower arrests, and more criminals walking free. This isn’t politics. It’s public safety.” also added that if tools like CCTV are removed, these types of crimes simply don’t get solved.

Mayor Wilson lays low

Since the virtual town hall, the mayor has been keeping quiet about CCTV and surveillance, taking time to showcase photo opportunities, like painting sessions with her daughter at Seattle Public Library’s Ballard Branch, and being present for the unveiling of a new monument to honor philosopher and Hindu religious leader, Swami Vivekananda at Westlake Square for a cultural heritage celebration.

For her 100th day in office on April 10, about 50 people attended a “Community Not Cameras” rally outside of City Hall, once again demanding that she turn off cameras, with her staffer Matthew McIntosh showing up with a cup of coffee to listen. Mayor Wilson has since earned the nickname “Shady Katie” from some of her voters who state she is turning back on campaign promises that helped get her elected, like promising to turn off cameras. 

In a social media post celebrating her first 100, the mayor prided herself in sending out a renter survey, issuing an executive order to grow shelter availability, expanding transit, and widening the Seattle Preschool Program to include three and four-year-old children.

“I’ll be enrolling my own daughter,” she said.

The post noted public safety, and her nonenforceable executive order that prohibits agencies from using city property for immigration enforcement activities. Undocumented community members quickly spoke out, stating that these signs were performative, and that resources used to put hundreds of them up could go directly towards direct mutual aid for people who need attorneys or who cannot work because they are too afraid to leave their house.

“I understand that there are some people here for whom the answer to that balance is no surveillance ever— turn it all off,” Mayor Wilson previously 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.” 

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