Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

This morning, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced that the over 20 CCTV cameras in the Stadium District that were installed ahead of the FIFA World Cup have been turned off. She added that the cameras will remain off until an audit of their effectiveness is delivered, which she expects later this fall. Regardless of consistent scrutiny she’s received regarding surveillance expansion in the city, she patted herself on the back for following through on one promise she made to turn the cameras off— after repeatedly and falsely claiming they would not be turned on to begin with unless there was a “credible threat.”

“Effective this morning, the Stadium District cameras are turned off. This follows through on the commitment I made last month that these particular cameras would only be turned on for the duration of the FIFA World Cup in Seattle, because of its high global profile and the unique circumstances surrounding the event,” Mayor Wilson said.

But protests against these cameras will continue, as activists have repeatedly stated the mayor has walked back her campaign promises, like not expanding the use of CCTV cameras. Our Seattle, the grassroots movement pushing Mayor Wilson to take ownership of her campaign promises, is holding a rally at Seattle City Hall Plaza today at 1 p.m. despite this news. One organizer with Our Seattle told TtS that Mayor Wilson needs to completely remove the cameras.

Much concern with CCTV camera installation is due to mass surveillance and partnerships, as footage that is flagged as being connected to an incident is stored on an Axon server, evidence.com. Axon collaborates with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by providing storage systems, body-worn video cameras, AI software, and more. And just last week, it was reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which falls under DHS, detained 10,000 people in a five-day-period, doubling its number of daily arrests.

Footage from the city’s CCTV cameras is stored at the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), which is an office located in the Seattle Police Department (SPD) headquarters. Mayor Wilson has previously said that while footage is continuously captured, it’s not regularly monitored, but some have found it astounding that marginalized community members should simply trust SPD officers to behave in good faith, particularly considering their discriminatory and violent policing.

The City has partnered with NYU’s Policing Project to create a data governance and privacy audit to evaluate if the CCTV cameras harm civil rights and civil liberties, although Mayor Wilson has previously stated that this technology is “not the primary threat to immigrants, trans people, or people seeking reproductive health care in our country right now.”

“We will share the audit publicly and engage thoughtfully around next steps regarding the previously planned expansion of these cameras to additional areas. As I have previously stated, the Stadium District cameras will remain off until that audit is complete and its recommendations are reviewed, and no new police CCTV cameras will be turned on,” Mayor Wilson noted.

The existing CCTV cameras in the Downtown Core, Chinatown International District, and North Aurora will remain active, she added.

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