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Council approves park cameras after privacy questions; police say footage stored on city systems
Summary
Bellevue approved a $44,792.20 surveillance-system purchase for American Heroes Park amid questions about privacy and potential AI use. Police said the vendor would not monitor feeds and footage would be stored on the city's protected systems and only reviewed for incidents.
The Bellevue City Council voted to approve the purchase of a surveillance system from A Tronic Alarms for American Heroes Park in an amount not to exceed $44,792.20 after councilmembers raised privacy concerns.
Councilwoman Collins said constituents were worried "about the way this information was going to be used and if it was AI." She asked the police chief to explain how footage would be stored and used.
Police Chief Ken Clary told the council the cameras are standard surveillance devices the department has used before. He said the vendor will not retain live access to the cameras, the city will house the footage on its own evidence systems and the department will not monitor the stream continuously. "They are just cameras," Clary said; "we won't be monitoring those cameras live, we will only look at those cameras if there's an incident." He added that footage is normally overwritten if no incident occurs and that storage and access will be secured within the department's evidence database.
Councilmembers noted the park has significant public investment and described the system as a deterrent and an investigative aid for thefts and assaults; they also acknowledged ongoing public concerns about ubiquitous camera use. The motion to purchase the system passed unanimously.
