SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council approved two pieces of legislation impacting the Seattle Police Department (SPD) Tuesday evening.
The council "overwhelmingly" approved legislation to permanently increase hiring bonuses for SPD officers from $30,000 to a maximum of $50,000.
“Our goal is to attract the best police recruits in the nation to Seattle and we must provide them and their colleagues with the tools to do their jobs most effectively once they are here," said Councilmember Sara Nelson, the bill's sponsor.
The current hiring incentive for lateral transfer officers is $30,000 and $7,500 for entry-level officers.
The council approved the use of new crime prevention technology that will allow the department to install live surveillance video cameras in Seattle neighborhoods they said have the most violent crime.
“Both pieces of legislation build on the City Council’s strategic work this year to improve public safety by expanding tools to accelerate police hiring, improve the technologies available to help police stop crimes in real-time, and keep drug-related criminals out of designated areas of the city,” said Councilmember Bob Kettle, the sponsor of the legislation.
SPD already has a dedicated, yet empty, room in their headquarters that is equipped with screens for analysts to view the surveillance, also called closed-circuit television (CCTV).
Seattle police said they believe the technology will help them both respond -- and solve -- felony crimes like gun violence and human trafficking with more precision and situational awareness.
The technology will have AI components but will not have facial recognition capabilities, according to SPD. Officers will have the ability to track license plates and give officers video evidence.
The legislation allows police to put up video cameras in the Chinatown-International District, along the Aurora corridor, and in the Downtown Seattle core.
However, many members of the public have expressed their opposition.
The ACLU of Washington's technology policy director, Tee Sannon, told KING 5 via email last month, "The proposals are being rushed without full consideration." Sannon said. “These technologies do not reduce violent crime and disproportionately harm communities of color.”
The technology is expected to cost $2 million in its first year.
KING 5's Maddie White contributed to this report.