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Already known for awkward, gaffe-prone interviews and public appearances, Seattle socialist Mayor Katie Wilson is being mocked again for another uncomfortable on-camera moment.
This time, Wilson, a Democrat and self-identified socialist, is being criticized for a strange interview about the city’s gun violence reduction plan alongside Seattle Police Assistant Chief Nicole Powell and Amy Barden, chief of Seattle’s Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department. At one point during the interview, Wilson interjected after a long pause when Powell was questioned by a reporter about the usefulness of new Flock-type surveillance cameras being installed in the city.
KOMO News reporter Chris Daniels had asked Powell whether the new cameras could assist with Seattle’s slate of unsolved cases. The assistant police chief hesitated, looked down and began to speak twice before Wilson interjected.
“Cameras are obviously a useful tool, right? We’ve seen in the ‘Bite of Seattle’ shooting there’s been camera footage from businesses around Seattle center, we have cameras at Seattle center, those cameras have been useful tools in solving crime, there’s no doubt about that,” said Wilson.
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Visibly uncomfortable after Wilson interjected, the assistant police chief chuckled, motioned to the mayor and repeatedly looked off camera.
The reporter continued pressing them, saying, “What’s going to be the metric of success?”
Powell looked to Wilson, whose voice cracked slightly as she answered, “Ultimately, we want to see zero homicides, we want to see fewer homicides, and we want to see fewer guns shot.” While Wilson spoke, Powell nodded along and looked to the side off camera again.
The reporter persisted, asking, “Would either of you like to answer that question?” as he motioned to Powell and Barden.
Barden jumped in quickly, steering the conversation away from flock cameras.
“From my side, in addition to shots fired and homicides, you want to look at referrals in the services and whether or not somebody is making meaningful improvement in their life,” said Barden.
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After Barden finished speaking, the reporter turned the floor over to the assistant police chief who laughed and finally answered, “Just to piggyback, taking a holistic approach this strategy works.”
“It is proven in other cities like this, and it takes all of us,” Powell added, as she looked back at Wilson and Barden.
This comes as debate continues over the expansion of surveillance cameras in Seattle and other cities across the country. During her campaign last year, Wilson argued against expanding surveillance cameras in the city but has taken a different tone since becoming mayor.
Last September, Wilson remarked that “turning on more cameras won’t magically make our neighborhoods safer. But it will certainly make our neighbors more vulnerable,” reported The Urbanist.
However, after becoming mayor, Wilson announced that she would pause expansion of Seattle’s surveillance-camera system pending a privacy and data-governance audit, while allowing the existing cameras to remain in operation. She said the city would use the audit’s findings to determine whether and how to proceed with further expansion.
During the KOMO News interview this week, Wilson was pressed on when she will set a date for a decision. She answered, “I’m going to sound like a broken record on this but we’ve been conducting this audit of our data security and storage and privacy practices, we’re expecting the results of that audit around the end of this month and so, at the end of this month, we’ll be making that information public and then I’ll be making a decision about that expansion.”
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The awkward on-camera moment was quickly called out by many online.
Popular conservative account “End Wokeness” called it an “incredible moment.”
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“Seattle Assistant Police Chief Nicole Powell gets asked if turning back on Seattle CCTV cameras would help[,] she looks nervously at Mayor KatieWilson (who turned off the CCTV) Look at the face she gives the camera,” the account wrote.
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Some voiced their frustration, such as political advocacy group Future 42, which posted, “Daniels asks the SPD Chief sitting beside the mayor if the crime cameras ‘could be a tool to help in any of these unsolved cases.’ The Chief’s facial expression and silence say it all, which is then followed by Katie Wilson interjecting that cameras are in fact a ‘useful tool’, even though she personally made the decision to turn them off,” the group wrote, adding, “What else can we say, except Katie Wilson still has no idea what she is doing as Mayor of Seattle?”
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