The Center Square — The City of Seattle will be paying for two separate policing review organizations to study Seattle’s crime surveillance cameras if Mayor Katie Wilson goes ahead with her plan to hire a group affiliated with New York University Law School.
Wilson announced on March 19 that she was at least temporarily halting an expansion of the city’s crime-control cameras while a study was being conducted.
She said she would have the Policing Project, part of the law school, examine her concerns about privacy and potential use of the surveillance cameras by Federal immigration authorities.
But the Office of Inspector General for Public Safety, a city agency, announced in December 2024 that it would hire the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Police Lab the following year to evaluate the city’s pilot surveillance program.
The video camera surveillance program first began in Seattle in April 2025.
It’s unclear how much cash-strapped Seattle would pay for the two studies, but the city is facing an estimated $140 million deficit in its 2027 budget.
Sage Wilson, a spokesman for Mayor Wilson, said he believes the final details are still getting ironed out with NYU on cost & timeline.
He said the University of Pennsylvania/OIG study “is a bit different” in that it focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of the Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center, which the cameras are connected to, while the NYU study focuses on data governance & security practices.
“As I understand it, the OIG study will take longer to complete,” he said.
But the Policing Foundation said it would be looking at the city’s real-time crime center,” in a press release.“RTTCs (Real Time Crime Centers) bring together surveillance tools and in a centralized environment, heightening concerns around privacy, fairness, discrimination, and potential misuse,” the statement said. The Policing Foundation said the mayor has raised serious concerns about the cameras being used for federal immigration enforcement and for other sensitive purposes. Neither the Policing Foundation nor the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Police Lab responded to requests for comment.
The OIG has $135,000 allocated for consultants and studies in 2026 and $140,000 in 2025, according to its budget.
The OIG’s 2026 work plan states that the agency will collaborate with University of Pennsylvania researchers to examine the effectiveness of Seattle’s crime-control cameras.
It said it will investigate crime occurrences and investigative outcomes, police operations, and community perceptions of safety related to the cameras.
“This evaluation is expected to be completed in 2027, with an interim report issued at the end of 2026,” the OIG report said.
Wilson’s announcement on March 19 allowed the approximately 60 existing cameras already in operation to continue while halting an expansion planned for the next several months.
She said she was going ahead with a plan to install 20 cameras at Luman Field, home to six FIFA 2026 World Cup games in June and July. Wilson said the cameras would only be turned on if there was a “credible threat.”
Wilson had expressed concern about the cameras in her campaign for mayor last year, in which she narrowly defeated Bruce Harrell
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, appointed by Harrell, has been a strong advocate for the cameras and the Real Time Crime Center.
He said in a February presentation that it has solved many serious crimes and that there had been no instances of ICE requesting a subpoena anywhere in the U.S. to collect data from any Real Time Crime Center.
Barnes could not be reached for comment.
