[ad_1]
An old school “throw phone” being prepared for deployment at a Capitol Hill standoff
The Seattle City Council’s Parks, Public Utilities, and Technology Committee chaired by District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth will hear required updates Wednesday from the Seattle Police Department on its use of two resources covered by the city’s “Surveillance Impact Report” requirements.
In Wednesday afternoon’s session, Hollingsworth’s committee will hear updates on SPD’s ongoing use of Callyo, a “cell phone identification masking and recording technology” that allows “undercover officers to mask their phone numbers and record conversations of suspects,” according to a council brief on the session.
Wednesday’s session will also include a SPD briefing on the use of “Hostage Negotiation Throw Phones.” The phones can be used during standoffs and negotiations in hostage or crisis situations, SPD says. In the past, police or SWAT have needed to depend on personal cell phones or on radios lowered in on ropes at standoff and negotiation incidents.
Signing off on that use sounds like a simple task for the council committee — but there is more to consider. State of the art devices used by SPD also have a tactical purpose. The “throw phones” include microphones and speakers “to enable two-way
communication in an overt or covert manner” but also have “hidden cameras to support threat and tactical assessments,” SPD says in its brief on the phones. It also says the technology is “rarely utilized.”
“Of the 168 incidents that (hostage negotiation team) responded to in 2021, the throw phone portion of the system was only prepared for delivery a handful of times but was not deployed,” a department brief reads.
In its presentation (PDF), SPD lays out the chain of command approvals required to utilize each technology. The city also requires surveillance technology like Callyo and throw phones to pass through a period of public comment (PDF).
The reports are required under the city ordinance regulating the use of approved surveillance tech by SPD. Under the process, the City Council can decide on the use of the surveillance technology but SPD can continue to use the tools and resources unless the council votes to restrict or change requirements.
PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.