SEATTLE — Just over a week after Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced a pause of the city’s expansion of a police surveillance camera network, she hosted a town hall in downtown Seattle with a moderated discussion and questions from the public.
The event was held at the Wyncote NY Forum, with Mayor Wilson and Executive Director of the South Seattle Emerald, Florangela Davila, where they discussed security, surveillance, and their impacts on Seattle’s communities.
Q&A with Davila:
It began with about 30 or so minutes of Q&A between Wilson and Davila, which included pointed questions from the local journalist, and opportunities for Wilson to expand on her thought process to pause the expansion of the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), which is made up of 62 public and private cameras in high-crime areas within the city.
Wilson explained that the RTCC is not monitored 24/7, noting that there are other cities that do have continuous monitoring, and that Seattle has a very minuscule surveillance network compared to other major cities, like Boston, for instance.
Within the RTCC, which is monitored by civilian employees, the video is recorded and stored for five days before it is deleted — unless Seattle Police or the CARE team flags an incident…