Seattle socialist Mayor Katie Wilson has landed in another awkward public appearance, this time cutting into a response from Seattle Police Assistant Chief Nicole Powell during an interview about the city’s gun violence reduction plan, as reported by The New York Post.
Wilson, a Democrat and self-identified socialist already known for gaffe-prone interviews, appeared alongside Powell and Amy Barden, chief of Seattle’s Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department. The interview quickly produced another uncomfortable moment for the mayor.
KOMO News reporter Chris Daniels asked Powell whether new Flock-type surveillance cameras being installed around the city could help investigators with Seattle’s unsolved cases.
Powell hesitated, looked down, and twice began trying to answer 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.
Powell appeared visibly uncomfortable after the interruption. She chuckled, gestured toward Wilson and repeatedly looked away from the camera as the mayor took control of the answer.
Daniels continued pressing the officials and asked, “What’s going to be the metric of success?” Powell looked toward Wilson, leaving the mayor to respond as her voice cracked slightly.
“Ultimately, we want to see zero homicides; we want to see fewer homicides, and we want to see fewer guns shot,” Wilson answered.
Powell nodded while the mayor spoke and again looked toward the side, away from the camera.
The reporter was not finished and asked, “Would either of you like to answer that question?” while gesturing toward Powell and Barden.
Barden quickly stepped in but directed her response away from the surveillance camera issue.
“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.
After Barden finished, Daniels returned the floor to Powell. The assistant police chief laughed before answering, “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 while looking back toward Wilson and Barden.
The exchange unfolded amid continuing debate over the expansion of surveillance cameras in Seattle and other cities.
Wilson opposed expanding the city’s surveillance camera network during her campaign last year. In September, she said, “Turning on more cameras won’t magically make our neighborhoods safer. But it will certainly make our neighbors more vulnerable,” according to The Urbanist.
After becoming mayor, however, Wilson adopted a different tone.
She announced a pause on further expansion pending an audit of privacy and data governance practices, while allowing cameras already operating to remain in use.
Wilson said the city would rely on the audit’s findings when deciding whether and how to continue the expansion.
During the KOMO News interview, Daniels pressed her to provide a date for that decision.
“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,” Wilson answered.
The uncomfortable exchange quickly drew attention online. The popular conservative account “End Wokeness” called it an “incredible moment” and highlighted Powell’s nervous reaction when she was asked about the cameras.
“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.
Political advocacy group Future 42 also criticized the exchange. “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.
Future 42 added, “What else can we say, except Katie Wilson still has no idea what she is doing as Mayor of Seattle?”
The online mockery marked yet another rough on-camera moment for Seattle’s socialist mayor.
