(The Center Square) – The Chairman of the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee broke ranks with the mayor Tuesday, urging that surveillance cameras be turned on before the FIFA World Cup Games are played this summer.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced on March 19 that 26 surveillance cameras by Lumen Field would be installed as planned, but wouldn’t be turned on unless there was a “credible threat” to public safety. She had concerns about the cameras helping ICE enforcement efforts.
Bob Kettle, a former senior naval intelligence officer, said the cameras need to be “turned on in support of the World Cup.”
“My question regarding credible threat warnings is how do you define a credible threat warning,” he said. “It’s not the best practice to have the system and just have it turned off.”
Wilson didn’t define what she would view as a credible threat in her announcement on March 19.
She said if a credible threat did occur, the cameras would be turned on, and turned off again, when the threat was over.
Kettle, speaking at a meeting of the Public Safety Committee, said there aren’t always credible threat warnings before a major incident, citing as examples, the September 11 terrorist attacks or the bombing at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.
“It should be noted too that we’re in a heightened threat environment especially because of the Iran War, “ he said.
Kettle said it’s important that the issues be resolved before the first World Cup game is played on June 15.
Kettle didn’t criticize Wilson in his remarks and said he wanted to work with the mayor to make the surveillance camera program work for the betterment of public safety in the city.
But he said the audit that Wilson ordered of the city’s camera system and the Real Time Crime Center needs to be done before the games are started in order not to delay the cameras being turned on.
Wilson said she was hiring the New York University Law School’s Policing Project to review the city’s camera surveillance program.
While allowing the Lumen Field cameras to be installed, Wilson in her March 19 announcement also halted an expansion of the surveillance camera program to Capital Hill, a popular nightspot area, and by Garfield High School, site of frequent gun violence.
She said the audit will help determine the effectiveness of the current program and examine privacy concerns.
The current 60 camera program went into effect in downtown, The International District and in the Aurora Avenue Corridor in April 2025.
The City Council at the urging of former Mayor Bruce Harrell voted to expand the program in November.
Wilson criticized the cameras in her run for mayor last year.
The Public Safety Committee did unanimously approve Tuesday an ordinance echoing the mayor’s executive order on March 19 that existing cameras would be immediately turned off in case of ICE immigration enforcement action.
“In the event of a surge of immigration action similar to what was seen in Minneapolis, I will of course turn off all cameras in order to prevent them from potentially being abused by federal authorities,” Wilson had said.
The ordinance, which mandates a 60-day shutdown of the cameras if ICE action is suspected or occurs, is expected to be approved by the full city council next month.
