Spokane police to get eight pole-mounted surveillance cameras, including four ‘covert’ ones, for nearly $78,000

The Spokane Police Department will be getting eight cameras that can be mounted to light and utility poles, four of which will be “covertly” disguised, after the Spokane City Council approved nearly $78,000 Monday for the purchase.

Neither police officials nor California-based vendor Crime Point would provide any information about the technology. The locations of the overt cameras was also not released.

“If we’re working in a problem area, it can be helpful, or in response to crime trends, we could use those,” said police spokesperson Dan Strassenberg. “Patrol officers can’t be in all places at all times, so these will provide some more real-time information.”

City law requires baseline safeguards before a city department can deploy or install surveillance equipment, none of which apply to cameras deployed on a temporary basis for criminal investigations.

Asked whether the covert cameras could be deployed in high-traffic areas like outside the downtown mall, Strassenberg noted that the cameras can legally be used in any public area.

“The goal of these things is for investigative purposes, but I’m sure if they were having issues in the park or wherever there was activity – in this day and age, anywhere I walk, I assume there’s three cameras looking at me,” Strassenberg said.

“We will use these cameras for investigations, primarily for major crimes cases,” Strassenburg added in a follow-up email.

Councilman Michael Cathcart noted the same, saying he hasn’t always been comfortable with widespread surveillance but believes the proliferation of cameras has made the point moot.

“Ten years ago, I probably would not have been (comfortable), but there’s a cellphone in every hand and a Ring camera on every doorbell, so they don’t concern me in that respect unless they’re focused into a private home or yard,” Cathcart said.

Cathcart added that cameras could be useful to stop criminal activity in hotspots where police cannot be and said he wants to see the city’s cameras connected to the county’s Real Time Crime Center.

The Spokane City Council previously approved the purchase of highly visible mobile camera systems in 2023, hoping they would act as a deterrent that could be moved to areas of the city, such as downtown bars, with persistent crime trends. However, despite the funding being approved, the cameras were never actually purchased.

Area law enforcement agencies have increasingly relied on surveillance technology to bolster their staffing. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has retrofitted retired patrol cars with cameras, referring to them as “cameras on wheels” or COWs, and called for the expansion of surveillance cameras installed on the top of traffic lights.

Covert cameras, however, have raised ethical concerns in other communities in the country. Activists in Atlanta and Miami have complained about similarly disguised pole-mounted cameras that area police have installed outside their homes.