Could Seattle’s Crime Cameras Put Your Privacy At Risk?

Over the past several months, there's been a lot of talk and some reporting regarding the Seattle Police Department installing surveillance cameras in high crime areas in the city of Seattle. The Police Department has now received authorization and funding from the Seattle City Council to install additional surveillance cameras for the purpose of reducing crime in high crime areas. 

There were lots of comments from individuals attending those meetings raising concerns about the invasion of privacy and potential abuse of those surveillance cameras. The Seattle Police Department assured those present that no one would have access to those cameras except for the Seattle Police Department and other local law enforcement officials. 

So, who is watching?

Now we're starting to see some holes in the security that Washington Law enforcement has not yet dealt with. 

University of Washington researchers seemed to have found some flaws in the security systems. 

According to axios.com,
‘Public record requests by researchers showed that eight Washington state law enforcement agencies using Flock Safety — a brand of automated license plate readers (ALPR) — enabled direct one-to-one sharing of their networks with the U.S. Border Patrol at some point during 2025, per the report.
Ten other departments — including Mukilteo and Renton — were accessed through technical "back doors," despite no formal authorization, the UW report found. 

Now granted, there's no relationship between the “flock safety” system and the system of cameras that Seattle police are using to keep an eye on high crime areas. But it's safe to say if there's one back door into the Seattle Real-Time Crime Center, there could be more. 

The Seattle City Council has allocated a lot of money to install these cameras. Now the question is how much money have they allocated For IT security?
Police surveillance systems leave door open to feds, report shows - Axios Seattle
Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement - Center for Human Rights