A Seattle city councilman wants to turn on surveillance cameras around Lumen Stadium ahead of FIFA, saying the city shouldn’t wait for “credible threats.”
SEATTLE — At least two Seattle city council members are publicly pressuring Mayor Katie Wilson to activate 22 dormant surveillance cameras around Lumen Stadium ahead of next month’s FIFA World Cup.
At Tuesday’s Seattle Public Safety Committee meeting, City Councilman Rob Saka called on the mayor to turn on CCTV cameras in the stadium area ahead of Seattle’s first World Cup game on June 15.
“We need to do things right one hundred percent, but those who seek to harm our community only have to do it right once,” Sarkar said.
Sacca argued the city should not wait for a “credible threat” to activate cameras during one of the largest events in Seattle’s history. City leaders expect about 100,000 people to gather in and around Lumen Field during each of the six World Cup game days this summer.
The cameras were installed as part of the Seattle Live Crime Center expansion, but Wilson announced in March that cameras in the stadium area would remain inactive unless there was a credible threat.
During the meeting, Sarkar described his experience during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, saying he and his wife were in a family gathering area two blocks from the finish line when a bomb exploded after the race.
“I was scared. I didn’t know if I should grab my wife and leave the area immediately, or stay where I was,” Sarkar said.
Sacca, who held up his Boston Marathon medal during the meeting, told lawmakers the experience changed him forever and said surveillance cameras were crucial in helping investigators identify the attacker in the days of manhunt that followed.
Sacca said Seattle is generally ready to host the World Cup, but he believes the city “isn’t as ready as it should be” if the cameras remain turned off.
Councilmember Maritza Rivera joined Saka’s call, saying the council had already approved funding, authorized the installation of cameras and approved privacy protections during the expansion of the city’s Live Crime Center.
Rivera stressed that the City Council has no control over when the cameras are activated and said that decision belongs to the mayor’s office.
Wilson had previously suspended use of the cameras pending a review of privacy and data governance issues. Her government says the cameras can still be activated if there is a credible threat.
Sarkar also believes the cameras will have little investigative value if they remain inactive during the World Cup.
In an interview with KING 5 after the meeting, Sarkar said the footage could not be retroactively captured if the cameras were turned off at the time of the incident.
“The cameras need to be on to capture the incident and footage for law enforcement investigative purposes,” Sarkar said. “If the cameras are not on, authorities cannot retroactively try to collect potentially useful footage or information.”
Sacca said that restriction is part of the reason he believes the city should activate cameras before games begin, rather than waiting for a “credible threat” to emerge.
The discussion took place during a wider emergency preparedness briefing and focused on plans for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Seattle.
Seattle Office of Emergency Management officials told lawmakers that more than 45 local, state and federal agencies will help coordinate security during the game, including the FBI, FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, TSA, Sound Transit and King County Metro.
Officials said vehicles will not be allowed within about a mile of Lumen Field during games and streets will be blocked off to create safe corridors for emergency responders.
Emergency planners also told lawmakers they have been preparing for possible drone incidents, cyberattacks, earthquakes, wildfire smoke and extreme heat during the game. Officials said they have conducted training exercises for first responders, rehearsed family reunification scenarios, coordinated with hotels and the Port of Seattle on human trafficking issues and developed plans to quickly relocate the city’s emergency operations center if another disaster occurs elsewhere in Seattle during the World Cup.
Officials said the city’s emergency operations center will be activated during all six game days in Seattle and coordinate with agencies in the region through a unified command structure.
