On Tuesday, November 10, Mayor Katie Wilson directed the Seattle Police Department to turn the Stadium District and Pioneer Square cameras back on immediately.
The mayor also approved installing the Council-authorized cameras in the Capitol Hill nightlife district and around Garfield High School in the coming months.
The decision follows an audit of the Real-Time Crime Center by the Policing Project at New York University’s School of Law. The audit found gaps in SPD’s policies and oversight. It recommended clearer rules on how RTCC data is used, limits on retention and access, and more public transparency. The mayor says the city will adopt most of its 19 recommendations. If implemented, they should strengthen public confidence without compromising police effectiveness.
Mayor Wilson made a wise and pragmatic decision. It rejects the idea that giving police effective tools and protecting civil liberties are a binary choice. (In late July, I explained why the mayor should make this decision in Finish the Job.)
Some civil liberties advocates will object, and their concerns deserve serious answers. But these additional locations were chosen because gun violence, human trafficking, and persistent felony crime are concentrated there, the same reason Aurora Avenue North, Third Avenue downtown, the Chinatown-International District, and the Stadium District-Pioneer Square were chosen.
As deputy mayor under Bruce Harrell, I helped develop the legislation that let SPD modernize its Real-Time Crime Center and begin installing cameras where crime is concentrated. The City Council approved the program in 2024 and again in 2025. Since the program launched in 2025, the RTCC has aided hundreds of violent-crime investigations.
Mayor Wilson was right to keep these effective tools and pair them with even stronger safeguards.
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