3 more Seattle parks to get security cameras

Ignoring warnings from one member that Seattle government is becoming more like Big Brother, the City Council decided Monday to install surveillance cameras at some city parks.

The 21-month program, proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels, will deter crime and graffiti and help the police investigate criminal cases, city officials say.

In a few months, cameras will go up in Victor Steinbrueck Park near Pike Place Market, Occidental Park in Pioneer Square and Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown International District at a cost of $406,000. Nickels had three cameras installed in Capitol Hill's Cal Anderson Park in February without the council's budgetary approval.

Installing surveillance cameras is one of several strategies the city is using to address neighborhood complaints about assaults, drug dealing and drug use at the parks.

Last month, the City Council approved the mayor's proposal to remove automated public toilets from the same parks. Park rangers hired by the city also recently began patrolling the four parks.

Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, chairman of the parks committee, emphasized the cameras are a pilot project. "We'll see if improvement is either made in perception of crime or safety."

The vote passed 7-1, with Councilmember Nick Licata opposing the purchase of the cameras. Council President Richard Conlin was absent.

At a parks-committee meeting last week, Licata recommended installing the cameras but changed his mind at Monday's council meeting.

"It's a changed world as we've been told so often. It's a world where we're suspicious of people who might be terrorists or we have a Big Brother looking over our shoulder," Licata said.

"Surveillance cameras are going to be sending us down that road, and I'm not sure that's a world I want to go in and help create."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington also opposes the camera surveillance.

"In a free and open society, people should have the right to be present in public spaces without being monitored by the government," said Jennifer Shaw of ACLU Washington at Monday's council meeting.

When cameras were installed in London, Shaw said, crime went down in front of the cameras and went up next to the cameras. The city then installed more cameras.

The new cameras in Seattle will record 24 hours a day seven days a week, but the tape will not be monitored. Police supervisors can authorize staff to monitor the video during a 911 call, as part of a criminal investigation or during a state of emergency.

The recordings will be kept by the Parks Department and can be obtained through a public-disclosure request.

A log of who views the video will also be kept for public information. Images will be erased every 14 days.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com