Councilmember calls lack of security cameras at Seattle Center ‘pathetic’

Our Take

KOMO News captures a familiar post-incident script: a shooting happens, a review finds a camera gap, and suddenly a councilmember is calling the absence of CCTV "pathetic" on the record. Credit to KOMO for getting Rob Saka on camera saying the quiet part — that Seattle Center currently has no cameras of its own — because that admission is exactly the kind of baseline fact residents need before the city rushes to fill the gap with whatever vendor shows up first with a pitch deck.

The problem isn't that cities want safer public spaces. It's that "we had no cameras and something bad happened" gets used to justify permanent, blanket surveillance infrastructure installed under emergency urgency, with little public debate about retention policies, who gets access to the footage, whether it feeds a real-time crime center, or whether it gets networked with ALPR systems and shared across agencies. Seattle Center hosts hundreds of thousands of people a year for concerts, protests, and civic events — a camera network built in the wake of one shooting doesn't just watch for the next one, it watches everyone, indefinitely.

If Seattle moves forward, the public deserves hearings on scope, data retention, and oversight — not just a press conference announcing cameras are coming. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your city, and visit take action if you want a say before the next 'pathetic' gap gets patched with permanent surveillance.