Seattle PD Operating Secret CCTV Camera
For roughly a decade, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) has operated a secret-no-more surveillance camera on Capitol Hill trained to view the intersection of 12th Ave and Pine Street in front of SPD's East Precinct.
It is perched atop the 12th Ave Arts building owned by Community Roots Housing, which told HardPressed that the SPD "owns and operates the camera."
SPD confirmed to HardPressed that it owns the camera but did not yet respond to numerous other questions concerning its capabilities, history and use.
A review of historical Google Maps street views show that the camera appears to have been installed between August 2015 and July 2017.
(L) Google Maps street view screenshot highlighting SPD's CCTV camera. (R) A close up shot of SPD's 12 Ave Arts CCTV camera.
The SPD did not explicitly declare the CCTV camera within a Master List of surveillance technologies submitted to the Seattle city council in 2017 prior to the adoption of Seattle's 2018 surveillance ordinance. In 2022, the SPD submitted a Surveillance Impact Report (SIR) concerning covert "camera systems" which states that "cameras that are fixed in a location for a period of time can be viewed live."
The 12th Ave Arts camera was also not declared publicly during SPD's push to install Real Time Crime Center cameras across the city. It exists outside of the "Capitol Hill Night Life" Real Time Crime Center surveillance area and the camera is not publicly disclosed on the city's public camera map.
The SPD has a history of misrepresenting its surveillance capabilities within SIRs and in testimony given to city council. Over a decade ago, the department also installed other surveillance cameras in Cal Anderson Park and across the city which were eventually removed. SPD's wireless-mesh network was also removed in 2018.
The view of SPD's 12th Ave Arts camera would have provided the department with a 24/7 picture of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) in 2020 around the East Precinct.
Asked if the SPD shared this footage directly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) while it operated a domestic terrorism investigation in the CHOP, SPD told HardPressed that "we can’t comment on other agencies investigations."
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 12th Ave Arts building is also used by the SPD for extra parking.