CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to surveillance technology implementation; authorizing approval of uses and accepting the 2025 updated surveillance impact report and 2025 executive overview for the Seattle Police Department's use of Real-Time Crime Center software.
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WHEREAS, on October 8, 2024, the City Council passed Ordinance 127111, adopting the original Surveillance Impact Report (SIR) for Real-Time Crime Center software (RTCC); and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the RTCC program provides a centralized location for real-time information and analysis-integrates dispatch, cameras, officer location, 911 calls, records management system, and other information into one single view. The software is used to alert real-time crime center staff to a serious criminal event, see multiple streams of information overlaid on a map view, and convey that information to officers who are responding in the field; and
WHEREAS, subsection 14.18.020.F of the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC), which section was enacted by Ordinance 125376 and last amended by Ordinance 125679, states that "[a]ny material update to an SIR, such as to change the purpose or manner in which a surveillance technology may be used, shall be by ordinance"; and
WHEREAS, the material update will provide the Seattle Police Department (SPD) the ability to view the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) traffic monitoring cameras in the RTCC software; and
WHEREAS, the RTCC program went live in May 2025 and early examples of the RTCC program directly contributing to public safety outcomes include a drive-by shooting where the suspect was taken into custody, footage from a stabbing incident in the Chinatown-International District to assist investigators, a female reporting an attempted robbery with the male suspect denying the allegations but the RTCC video footage showed the male grabbing the female’s purse to disprove his story, and locating a suspect where the victim called 911 to report someone was following them with a knife; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Pursuant to Ordinances 125376 and 125679, the City Council approves use of the Seattle Police Department’s use of Real-Time Crime Center software and accepts the updated 2025 Surveillance Impact Report (SIR) for this technology, attached to this ordinance as Attachment 1, and the Executive Overview for the same technology, attached to this ordinance as Attachment 2.
Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect as provided by Seattle Municipal Code Sections 1.04.020 and 1.04.070.
Passed by the City Council the ________ day of _________________________, 2025, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage this ________ day of _________________________, 2025.
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President ____________ of the City Council
Approved / returned unsigned / vetoed this ____day of _______________, 2025.
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Bruce A. Harrell, Mayor
Filed by me this ________ day of _________________________, 2025.
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Scheereen Dedman, City Clerk
(Seal)
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - 2025 Surveillance Impact Report: Real-Time Crime Center
Attachment 2 - 2025 Surveillance Impact Report Executive Overview: Real-Time Crime Center