Seattle Police, In Response to Council Questions, Offer Their Thoughts on Social Media Tracking Controversy

Police chief Kathleen O'Toole defended the department's use of Geofeedia in a hearing on Monday. Seattle Channel

One question that's loomed since we published a story about the Seattle police department’s acquisition of Geofeedia, the powerful social media mapping software, is why the department paid $14,000 to use it and didn’t tell anyone.

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Police have been tight-lipped. But on Monday, Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Brian Maxey, the department’s top civilian, expanded on the department’s view after Council Member Kshama Sawant brought up the story and asked them to respond. "This happened at the same time that the Black Lives Matter movement is highlighting the lack of public accountability in police departments," Sawant noted.

“Thank you for bringing that up,” said O’Toole. “It’ll take a significant amount of time to explain what happened in this instance.”

Here's what we learned:

O’Toole said she understands that SPD is being held to a “different standard”—this may have been a reference to Seattle’s intelligence and suveillance ordinances, which are fairly unique in the United States and which regulate data collection by the city’s police—but, she said, “this is software that anyone at this table or anyone in the audience could buy tomorrow.”

Geofeedia cost Seattle police $14,125, according to a copy of its two-year contract. So, sure, if you have $7,000 laying around, yes, you can purchase a year-long, SPD-quality subscription to the service.

"We’ve never focused on individual accounts or individuals," O'Toole added. "If we want to access people's individual social media, we have to go to a court of law, a judge, and submit an affidavit."

She also began to relate an anecdote about police assessing for threats to Seattle's Pride parade after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, but then diverted to another topic and didn't explain how Geofeedia played a part in pre-Pride threat assessments. Instead, she switched gears and said the purchase of the service had been properly vetted "through the chain of command," up to an Assistant Chief. She also said they weren't aware of a legal requirement to notify the city's Chief Technology Officer of the Geofeedia purchase—a law she called "new" but which actually dates back to 1999.

O'Toole also said she was unaware of the Geofeedia purchase at the time.

Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey said he's confident that the decision to use Geofeedia without informing the City Council doesn't violate the city's surveillance ordinance—which is separate and apart from the requirement that the city's Chief Technology Officer be notified of such purchases.

Maxey that that's because the surveillance ordinance only applies to hardware, not software. Council Member Lorena González and the ACLU feel differently.

Maxey also asserted our story had "very few accurate facts in it," but didn't elaborate. The police department has not asked us to make any corrections to our reporting.

"We’re not searching for certain individuals or political views," Maxey said. He indicated the department now uses Babel Street, another social media monitoring tool, to scan for a list of key words related to violent crime provided by Homeland Security, words like "kill."

Council Member Tim Burgess voiced agreement with Kshama Sawant that it's a "good thing" we reported this story—otherwise, the public would not have known about Geofeedia. But then he went on a mini-tirade, saying he's glad the SPD is scanning for threats on social media because mass shooters often post their threats on social media in advance. He added, "I don’t look to The Stranger for the facts on these kind of cases. I know my colleagues might."

Burgess is a former Seattle cop, while González is a former civil rights attorney who has sued the department and who now leads police oversight for the council. She positioned herself in between Burgess and Sawant at the meeting, neither defending nor condemning the department's conduct.

"These are open policy questions that are appropriate for the council," she said. "What we want to avoid, in my opinion, is the dragnet effect."

González continued: "Even though the words on the paper are restricted to hardware, I think the reality is the technology has evolved even since the [surveillance] legislation was amended in 2013. I think we need to look at the surveillance ordinance with a broader set of values and goals... There are ways to monitor people beyond body cameras or drones. I think it’s a mistake to restrict that to hardware."

González also said she's looking forward to passing new police accountability legislation that would fold the intelligence auditor—the previous one never bothered checking electronic files—into a powerful new inspector general position.

Maxey agreed the city needs a "sophisticated intelligence auditor" to independently review the intelligence the police are gathering and watch for spying on dissidents.

Meanwhile, it's been nearly two weeks since we asked the SPD to answer these additional questions about Babel Street, but we haven't heard back yet:

What does the department use it for? What data does it collect? Which specific Babel Street product do you use? How much did it cost? What happens to the data it collects? What kinds of social media does it search? Support The Stranger More than ever, we depend on your support to help fund our coverage. Support local, independent media with a one-time or recurring donation. Thank you! When did the department start using it? Which unit uses it? How has it been used so far? Was it cleared with the City Council and the CTO? Why did the department drop Geofeedia, and when, exactly?