On June 8, 2020, after a week of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) dispersals of Black Lives Matter protesters in Capitol Hill, the department changed course and began to leave its East Precinct. While the last officers on bikes pedaled away, a person moved forward from a crowd of protesters into the territory formerly occupied by SPD, between 11th and 12th Avenues on East Pine Street. As the person walked in front of a large group, for a moment, they were alone in the street, recording the historic scene on their cell phone. Someone was also recording them.
As this person moved up Pine Street, they were unknowingly being zoomed in on by a King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) helicopter called Guardian One. As the aircraft hovered thousands of feet up in the sky, it was being used by SPD as an “observation platform.” Guardian One’s live stream video feed was broadcasting directly to SPD’s top commanders, the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), SPD’s Operation Center (SPOC) and the “video wall” at SPD’s Real Time Crime Center (RTCC). This live video feed from Guardian One was broadcast to SPD during the first week of protests in June and again in July of 2020.
Documents obtained through public records requests by Real Change show the video feed zooming in on protesters’ faces, recording their movements and, according to emails sent by a KCSO detective, being shared with the U.S. Marshals and Washington State Department of Corrections.
“Never know when this might be useful,” wrote KCSO detective Larry Williams, when he shared the access link.
With the help of lawyer Rebecca Boatwright, SPD general counsel and executive director of analytics and research, the department was able to provide access credentials of the surveillance video feed to a private citizen volunteering at Seattle’s EOC. That citizen would go on to share the access credentials, sent using the volunteer’s personal email, with a city EOC employee, Ken Neafcy.
SPD did not disclose that it shared access to the surveillance systems with private citizen volunteers when the department was required in 2021 to submit a retroactive Surveillance Impact Report (SIR) for using Guardian One’s helicopter camera system. For technologies officially identified by Seattle’s IT department as “surveillance technologies,” a multi-stage process of review must be completed, including a draft SIR, public comment and surveillance advisory working group review. This process culminates in a final SIR that is either approved or rejected by a Seattle City Council vote.
Internal SPD emails sent on October 23, 2020, between SPD Intelligence Sergeant Eric Chartrand and Boatright show what SPD and Seattle IT were telling the public in their SIR was “not accurate,” according to Chartrand. Despite being informed about this, SPD allowed a SIR to be submitted and eventually approved by the Seattle City Council on May 24, 2021.
What SPD and Seattle IT were telling the public in their SIR was “not accurate.”
In an email to Real Change, SPD’s chief operating officer (COO) Brian Maxey wrote that the inaccuracies in SPD’s SIR were “simply missed by all involved” and that “there was no bad faith on the part of any department.”
According to Maxey, SPD became aware of an error in SPD’s SIR related to “the potential use of live streaming” video in October 2022.
“SPD strives for transparency and accuracy in the SIR process, and we certainly tried here, in collaboration with all our City partners,” Maxey wrote. “There were no intentional misrepresentations as we engaged in the robust, complex and community centered process that is required under the Surveillance Ordinance.”
However, emails reviewed by Real Change show that Boatright was made aware of the inaccuracies in SPD’s SIR and confirmed receipt of that information in October 2020, months before SPD and Seattle IT transmitted their initial SIR to City Council.
Maxey added that the private citizen who was volunteering for Seattle’s EOC and was provided access to Guardian One’s live stream camera feed was “fully backgrounded and subject to our CJIS management protocols.”
In June 2020, a number of citizen volunteers were operating within Seattle’s EOC, according to department sign-in sheets and internal emails obtained by Real Change. During that time, internal EOC complaints highlighted two volunteers that were “consistently sharing anti-protestor [sic] comments during their shift,” according to an email sent by an EOC staffer. The EOC volunteer provided with Guardian One access was not among the group who expressed these comments.
In an email to Real Change, ACLU of Washington’s technology policy program director Tee Sannon wrote, “Several of the surveillance impact reports produced by SPD do not provide sufficient information to allow the public to meaningfully understand and assess the nature and scope of the risks involved or to effectively weigh in on the process. This not only contradicts the goal of the Surveillance Ordinance to increase transparency and equity, but also further harms public trust.”
In some cases, screenshots of the 2020 protest video feed were captured and circulated via text message by King County employees. Internal SPD reports show that the department viewed Guardian One’s deployment to racial justice protests in 2020 as essential, allowing SPD to obtain information about “general crowd demeanor” from thousands of feet up in the sky.
In an email to Real Change, The Seattle Office of Police Accountability stated it does not have any open investigation in relation to the inaccuracies contained in SPD’s Guardian One FLIR SIR.
The FLIR system in use
Guardian One is equipped with a TELEDYNE FLIR Star SAFIRE 380-HD camera system that can capture thermal imaging and high-definition color video. This system was purchased by King County for $525,000 in 2019. Maintenance and operations for the FLIR camera continue to cost King County hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. The camera magnifies the video feed up to 120 times the size seen by the naked eye; it can read the logo on your sweatshirt from thousands of feet in the air.
Additionally, the Guardian One FLIR system has a laser pointer capable of signaling out and striking targets on the ground. SPD states that demilitarization of the department has been completed through opting out of the federal 1033 Program, which allows law enforcement agencies to purchase surplus equipment from the Department of Defense. However, an alternate version of FLIR’s Star SAFIRE camera, the 380-HLD, is also equipped as a military weapons targeting system.
Guardian One video recordings from June 2020 captured a journalist working in the field, people making art on private property and people standing around and using park swing sets. These video recordings were later transferred to SPD to review their own “demonstration management,” according to former SPD Lieutenant Shanon Anderson. This action was unrelated to any criminal investigation and seemingly in violation of SPD’s retroactive surveillance authorization from Seattle City Council, which states that a request for video may only be made “as case evidence in the investigation of a crime or missing person.”
The SIR filed by SPD and Seattle IT states the Guardian One FLIR camera system can’t detect color and that the FLIR camera “does not capture even the most generic of identifiable individual characteristics such as race, age, or gender.” Yet Guardian One video recordings obtained by Real Change clearly show thousands of people in full color and, when zoomed in, can easily identify things like the hue of someone’s clothes or skin.
At least two incidents on July 25, 2020, documented in radio and arrest report records acquired by Real Change, suggest Guardian One aerial video surveillance was used to identify specific individuals within large crowds of people.
In one case, Guardian One pilots radioed SPD units on the ground to tell them that an individual had “assaulted officers during an arrest.” After using Guardian One to locate the individual, SPD moved in to arrest them on the pretext of misdemeanor “obstruction.” Seattle Municipal Court records show that the individual identified by Guardian One was booked into jail but was later bailed out. Ultimately, then-Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes declined to file any charges.
In another incident that occurred on July 25, 2020, SPD tracked and arrested someone based on the color of their red sweatshirt, seen from Guardian One in the sky. SPD reports stated that “a subject wearing a red hoodie is identified by Guardian One as throwing rocks at police officers holding the line.” No Seattle Municipal Court records exist for SPD’s case number for this incident, and the King County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to requests about the case’s resolution.
Internal emails between Seattle Fire Department (SFD) chiefs show that SPD was loaned a handheld MobilCMDR-HD mobile receiver device, which is able to view the live video feed from any location across the city. SPD did not disclose the fact it possessed and used a handheld live video downlink receiver within its SIR approved by Seattle City Council.
In an email correspondence to Real Change, SPD COO Maxey wrote, “I was unaware of any handheld device at the time I testified [to city council], probably because the handheld isn’t used in the field and is only tested occasionally during emergency exercises. We had two in the past, but returned one to SFD. The device isn’t practical because it requires line of sight to the helicopter without obstruction and is considered only an emergency backup. As such, it isn’t used.”
Surveillance accountability
On March 8, 2023, two years after SPD’s Guardian One camera SIR had been approved, SPD testified before Seattle City Council again, under the pretense of obtaining a material update to its use of Guardian One aerial surveillance. During this time, Maxey stated, “There is no real-time viewing of what the helicopter can see.”
However, records obtained by Real Change show several examples of SPD confirming the use of Guardian One livestream viewing in 2020, including Microsoft Teams messages between SPD’s criminal intelligence unit, radio recordings from SPD’s Operation Center directing Guardian One where to point its cameras and radio confirmation that “we’re getting your feed right now.”
In a written response to Real Change, Maxey remained firm that his testimony was accurate based on what he knew at the time and still stands based on what he has learned since.
The council went on to approve SPD’s request, allowing the department to obtain a federal grant to update SPD’s Maple Leaf receiver site. The technology at this site allows SPD to connect to multiple live video downlinks on separate channels from multiple law enforcement agencies simultaneously.
Emails obtained by Real Change show aviation coordination during the 2020 protests that occurred among the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Washington State Patrol (WSP) and King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane Counties.
WSP aerial surveillance, used during 2020, was initially identified as a surveillance technology; however, it was removed from Seattle IT’s “Master List of Surveillance Technologies” in 2019. Maxey told Real Change he does not have a record as to why. Video recordings of WSP flight operations were shared on Seattle-based criminal defense attorney Nacim Bouchtia’s YouTube channel in March of 2021, as reported by Capitol Hill Seattle blog.
In one internal email to WSP commanders, a WSP lieutenant wrote that “SPD bike units had the [protest] group spinning around so much it was comical… Smokey 4 (a WSP aircraft) provided timely and relevant updates throughout the night.”
The FBI’s “aviation asset” was also deployed between May 31 and June 9, 2020, with the explicit purpose to “Support Seattle PD’s monitoring of the protests,” according to documents published by journalist Trevor Aaronson on DocumentCloud. The U.S. CBP aircraft also appeared to be mobilized in Seattle during the 2020 protests.
According to Seattle IT’s adopted surveillance registry, no SIR has been disclosed to the public detailing how SPD has utilized any aerial surveillance aircraft other than Guardian One or explaining what technologies are utilized at SPD’s Maple Leaf receiver site.
While SPD and Seattle IT’s SIR states Guardian One is used to “locate and track the movement of crime suspects and disaster victims,” an audit conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), which randomly selected eight Guardian One responses to SPD incidents in 2021 showed that the helicopter response routinely failed to locate anyone or did not arrive in time or that SPD had handled the incident well before Guardian One had arrived to the scene.
In one case, Guardian One was summoned by SPD to respond to a man with a foam sword, who SPD officers had contacted on scene and “found not to be a threat.”
The audit included a review of Guardian One’s response to the incidents of a missing child, assault, property destruction, automobile theft, edged weapon, reckless endangerment, murder and robbery/assault.
Additionally, the report concluded that an overwhelming majority of Guardian One’s 2021 responses to SPD incidents occurred within areas of Seattle considered disadvantaged by the City of Seattle’s Racial and Social Equity composite index map. The auditors found it “noteworthy because frequent helicopter overflights may impact citizens’ sense of safety in the places where they live and because frequent helicopter overflights at low altitude may disrupt sleep.”
Seattle IT’s Equity Impact Assessment Report from 2023 stated that, “because Guardian One typically responds to incidents already in progress, OIG could not draw conclusions about disparity in use of the helicopter without a broader review of police deployment and responses.”
Guardian One has continued to deploy to protests, including one on Sept. 23, 2023, that called for justice for the death of Jaahnavi Kandula, who died Jan. 23, 2023, as a result of being hit by SPD officer Kevin Dave while driving his officer vehicle as she walked through a marked crosswalk.
Additionally, recent proposals by Seattle city officials seem to signal for the expansion of surveillance across the city. On May 31, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a proposal to pilot the installation of new closed-circuit television cameras in three Seattle neighborhoods: Aurora Avenue North, the downtown Third Avenue corridor and the Chinatown-International District.
This pilot also included the proposal to expand the use of automated license plate readers and to deploy new Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) software. These proposals have been called into question by activist groups such as the Seattle Solidarity Budget. While the Seattle City Council has not yet approved the use of these technologies, their unique SIRs are currently available for review by the public on Seattle IT’s surveillance technology website. In SPD’s RTCC SIR, “machine learned algorithms” are utilized to “analyze camera feeds.”
How these algorithms work and how they are integrated with the multitude of aerial surveillance systems at SPD’s disposal has not been disclosed to the public. The direction the city of Seattle will choose in its priority of public safety is equally unclear and leaves a looming question of its stance on surveillance.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect comment by The Seattle Office of Police Accountability.
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Glen Stellmacher is an architect and former lecturer at the University of Washington. His work can be found around Seattle and online at hardpressed.substack.com.
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