Three Council budget proposals on police cameras: one holds back $400,000, one locks in $4.1 million, one starts on Seattle Center

Seattle's police camera program is back before the City Council on Thursday, this time through the budget. Three councilmembers filed proposals that pull in different directions, according to Central Staff's police proposal packet for the Oct. 29 Select Budget Committee meeting.

The timing matters. Mayor Katie Wilson's office is reviewing a draft outside evaluation of the camera system from New York University's Policing Project and has said it will release it only after that review, FOX 13 reported this week. That report is what the mayor has said she will use to decide whether cameras in Pioneer Square and the Stadium District come back on.

This is a follow-up to our Oct. 28 story, The mayor has a draft audit of Seattle's police cameras, which laid out the Council's past votes. The packet had not been posted when we wrote that story.

The three proposals

Rinck: hold $400,000 until SPD follows the Inspector General. SPD-110-A, from Alexis Mercedes Rinck with Eddie Lin and Dionne Foster, would not cut money. It would put a proviso on $400,000 that SPD plans to use to finish installing the camera projects the Council has authorized, so the money "may not be spent until authorized by future ordinance."

The packet ties the hold to the Office of Inspector General's first annual review of the pilot, issued in September. The Inspector General found SPD generally had appropriate policies and made three recommendations: require crime center analysts to give a case number or reason each time they view camera footage; set rules for bringing privately owned cameras into the system; and require both a case number and a reason for searches of license plate reader data. SPD agreed to all three, with target dates of October 2026 for the first and March 2027 for the second, and no date for the third. The Council expects to lift the hold once SPD reports it has carried them out.

Kettle: fence off $4.1 million for the program. SPD-117-A, from Robert Kettle with Rob Saka and Lin, also costs nothing new. It would require that $4.1 million SPD expects to spend in 2027 on the Technology Assisted Crime Prevention Program go only to that program. The program, started in 2024, covers the cameras, access to city traffic camera feeds and the Real Time Crime Center.

Saka: start the paperwork for Seattle Center. SPD-119S-A, from Saka with Maritza Rivera and Kettle, asks SPD to complete a Surveillance Impact Report for cameras at Seattle Center by March 1, 2027. The packet cites the July 26 shooting during the Bite of Seattle, in which three people were killed and four were injured. The executive estimates about $1 million for 31 cameras: 19 on street infrastructure and 12 on Seattle Center buildings. Under the city's surveillance ordinance, the Council must approve new surveillance technology by ordinance, and these reviews "typically take many months," the packet says. Saka's intent is to have it ready for the 2028 budget.

Lin co-sponsored both Rinck's hold and Kettle's protection, the only member on both.

What our records add

Who voted for the cameras. The 2025 expansion, CB 121052, passed 7-2 at the Sept. 9, 2025 meeting. Among today's members, Saka, Rivera, Kettle, Joy Hollingsworth and Debora Juarez voted yes; Rinck and Dan Strauss voted no. Lin and Foster joined the Council later. The 2024 pilot, CB 120844, was Kettle's bill.

The pause rule. Rinck sponsored CB 121179, which sets conditions for a mandatory 60-day halt in camera and license plate reader data collection tied to immigration enforcement and reproductive or gender-affirming care cases. It passed 8-0 in March.

The crime center staff. A separate Kettle item, SPD-114-A, would fund three of nine vacant Real Time Crime Center positions for about $383,000 in 2027. See our story on his police package.

What's next

• Thursday, Oct. 29: sponsors present the items at the Select Budget Committee (agenda item). No votes are taken.
• Nov. 4: Strauss's balancing package shows which, if any, survive.
• Around Nov. 20: the city's 30-day feedback window on the NYU draft would close, based on FOX 13's account of when the draft arrived.