At City Hall on Monday, Mayor Katie Wilson said Seattle will expand its use of city surveillance cameras in neighborhoods including SODO and Capitol Hill. The announcement followed an audit of the Seattle Police Department's Real Time Crime Center and closed-circuit camera systems.

Wilson said the city has relatively few cameras compared with other large cities and argued that existing tools can be used more carefully in response to violent crime and broader public-safety concerns. She also emphasized limits on the expansion, saying it does not mean cameras on every corner and that the city is not moving to Flock cameras. The rollout is expected to take four to six months, with Seattle police planning to publish a public dashboard in the meantime.

Wilson said the audit found the Real Time Crime Center can play an important role but also identified gaps that need to be addressed before the system grows. She said Seattle's tradition of limiting and monitoring police power will remain in place as camera use expands. Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles also said privacy concerns are being heard and that the cameras will not be misused.

The briefing also touched on Seattle Center, where discussion has continued about adding cameras after the Bite of Seattle shooting. For now, Wilson said integrating private cameras in that area through the Connect Seattle program is a useful intermediate step. She also said automatic license-plate readers will remain off for now while the city works through safeguards to avoid collecting data in sensitive areas. Asked about possible immigration-enforcement use, Wilson said there had been no such requests.

Wilson also said a visit to the Southwest Precinct the night before underscored how thinly staffed the department is, adding another layer to a public-safety debate that now includes both technology and police capacity.