(The Center Square) – Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced Thursday that she will be pausing the expansion of a police surveillance camera pilot program with the exception of cameras by Lumen Field, where the World Cup will be played.
Wilson cited privacy issues and concerns that federal Immigration officials could get a hold of video surveillance tapes in making her decision.
And Wilson said the cameras planned by Lumen Field will not be turned on unless there is a “credible threat” to public safety.
A group of six business, tourism and housing groups asked the mayor to reconsider her decision in a letter after her announcement.
“We respectfully urge your administration to continue funding, maintaining, and thoughtfully expanding Seattle’s public safety camera network and Real-Time Crime Center,” the letter stated. “By deploying new technology with robust safeguards, the City of Seattle can further strengthen a balanced, accountable, and community-centered approach to public safety. The result will be a safer, healthier, and more vibrant Seattle for all.”
Twenty-six cameras are planned for the area by Luman Field and the remainder of the Stadium District, which is also the home of T-Mobile Park.
But she also decided to keep running cameras that were put in place in April 2025 and are connected to a police monitoring center called the Seattle’s “Real Time Crime Center.”
She said it was too soon to expand the pilot program without evaluating it and said New York University’s Policing Project would conduct a formal evaluation.
“I want to acknowledge this is a controversial issue,” Wilson said “For some people seeing CCTV cameras in the neighborhood where they live or work or attend school makes them feel safer. For others, the same cameras make them feel less safe.”
Wilson said existing cameras would be immediately turned off in case of ICE immigration 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,” she said.
She also said one of the 60 existing cameras, which faces a center where transgender surgery takes place, will also be turned off, as a matter of caution.
The City Council in Sept. 2025 under the urging of then Mayor Bruce Harrell approved an expansion of the camera surveillance program to Capital Hill, to the area by Garfield High School in Central Seattle, where there has been gun violence, and to the area by Lumen Field.
The current cameras are downtown, in the International District and in North Seattle along Aurora Avenue. The groups include the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Seattle Association.
Wilson’s order also applies to temporarily halting the operation of license plate readers installed on around 400 police patrol and parking enforcement cars.
The mayor also announced she will hold a public forum on the issue of the surveillance cameras next Friday at Town Hall in Seattle.
