Mayor Wilson to turn off stadium-area cameras as World Cup events end

Mayor Katie Wilson is turning off the police surveillance cameras stationed in Seattle's stadium district now that the highest-profile World Cup activities in the area have come to an end, she said Tuesday.

Her decision is consistent with her previously stated policies around the cameras' use, she said in a statement. Her office expects several reviews of their safety and efficacy in the coming months, and Wilson has promised to make a broader decision about their use.

The cameras near the stadiums were activated last month because Wilson said she received information about both general and specific credible threats to the World Cup events that met the bar she had set for their activation.

Now that the once-in-a-generation event has finished, Wilson wants to return to her previously announced timeline for considering whether the number of cameras in Seattle should grow.

"This follows through on the commitment I made last month that these particular cameras would only be turned on for the duration of the FIFA World Cup in Seattle, because of its high global profile and the unique circumstances surrounding the event," she said Tuesday.

Once an audit of the city's camera policies and practices is in hand, Wilson promised to "engage thoughtfully around next steps regarding the previously planned expansion of these cameras to additional areas."

The question of how far-reaching Seattle's surveillance should stretch has turned into a monthslong back-and-forth for Wilson.

Seattle already has more than 60 cameras operating in downtown, Aurora Avenue and the Chinatown International District, all of which feed into the Seattle Police Department's Real Time Crime Center.

Last year, the Seattle City Council and then-Mayor Bruce Harrell greenlit an expansion into parts of Capitol Hill, the Central District and areas around the stadiums. Backers in City Hall and in the Police Department argued that they provide crucial intelligence that can lead directly to solving crimes.

Wilson, though, was skeptical of adding new cameras amid fears of overreach by the federal government and more general concerns around privacy and civil rights.

When she took office, she sought to find a middle path. She paused the installation of new camera additions elsewhere in the central part of the city. At the same time, she installed them near the stadiums while saying they would only be turned on in the event of a "credible threat" to the World Cup. She did not remove any of the existing cameras.

She also commissioned an audit from New York University to examine the cameras' potential risks to privacy and civil rights, particularly in the context of immigration enforcement and reproductive and gender-related healthcare.

Under pressure from City Council members and after receiving word from law enforcement that a credible threat to the World Cup did exist, Wilson gave the OK to turn on the stadium-area cameras.

Immediately after Monday's World Cup match, the last in Seattle, a group calling itself Community Not Cameras called on Wilson to turn them off again and planned a rally for Tuesday afternoon.

The decision to turn on the cameras "actively puts our most vulnerable communities at risk at a time when we know there will be an increased presence of ICE and other federal agencies in Seattle," the group said in a statement.

On the other side, supporters of the cameras were upset by the decision to turn them off again.

Deactivating Seattle's safety cameras makes zero sense," said Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Associations. "Massive crowds with international visitors may have left but the community remains, and their safety should be supported by the best available resources."

Some City Council members have also been frustrated by Wilson's approach to the cameras. Councilmember Bob Kettle argued that sufficient protections have already put into place and the current ordinance balances public safety with privacy.

More than that, he doubts the federal government needs Seattle's technology. "They don't need our system," he said. "They're creating their own systems.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 4:50 PM.