Two months ago, we and other media got a look inside SPD’s Real-Time Crime Center , in which SPD tracks incidents shortly after they happen. The center’s access to cameras will expand after two City Council votes tonight – here’s the meeting video:

The votes (on legislation linked on agenda page 7 ) followed more than 100 people speaking almost entirely against the expansion, but only two councilmembers – citywide rep Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Northwest Seattle’s Dan Strauss – voted no. Many of the people who urged the council to reject the bills said it wasn’t even so much the cameras themselves that they opposed, but the possibility that the images and information they gather could be used against particularly vulnerable residents such as immigrants and LGBTQIA+ people. Counci

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