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Seattle public comment session pits Chinatown supporters of CCTV against residents demanding permanent ban
Summary
Public comment at the Seattle City Council’s March 24 meeting focused on a heated debate over the city’s CCTV/RTCC pilot: Chinatown-International District residents delivered petitions backing cameras for safety while activists and others called for a permanent ban, citing ICE use and profiling.
Dozens of residents filled public comment at the Seattle City Council’s March 24 meeting to sharply disagree over real-time surveillance cameras and their use by law enforcement.
The most immediate clash came from opposing neighborhood voices. "We have over 1,000 signatures to keep the CCTV program running," Gary Lee told the council, presenting what he said were petition pages from Chinatown and urging the city to expand cameras in the Chinatown-International District. "We need to work on that, not put tools away that are trying to help prevent crime," he said.
Supporters, including Beth, introduced the same petition count into the record and framed the RTCC as an evidence-based tool. "According to the police data, the use of high-tech CCTV…
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