Redmond Public Safety Committee Discusses Body-Worn Camera Fees, Traffic Safety, and Emergency Management – Feb 17, 2026
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Redmond Public Safety Committee Discusses Body-Worn Camera Fees, Traffic Safety, and Emergency Management – February 17, 2026
The Public Safety and Human Services Committee of the Whole met on February 17, 2026, at 4:33 PM, with Councilmember Prakriya presiding. The committee reviewed three action items (body-worn camera redaction fees, Washington Traffic Safety Commission agreement, and the 2025 King County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan annex), and received informational updates on emergency management, fire prevention performance, and the 2025 police activity report. Key outcomes included moving two items to the March 3 consent agenda and holding the body-worn camera fee item for further discussion.
Discussion Items
1. Body-Worn Camera Video Redaction Fee Resolution (CM 26-1021) Deputy Police Chief Brian Coates and Civilian Commander Mavik Hazan presented a resolution to add an $0.88 per minute fee for redacting body-worn camera footage for public records requests, aiming to recover staff costs and deter high-volume requests from outside parties (e.g., YouTube channels). Councilmembers questioned the absence of a fee cap, potential disproportionate impacts, and the need for a written description of exempt cases. Councilmember Forsythe noted that those directly involved in incidents or misconduct allegations would be exempt. Councilmember Stuart asked how low-income requesters could access footage without paying – staff explained they could view it in the police lobby during business hours. Council President Stewart requested past discussion history and noted the item had not been previously briefed. Councilmember Kritzer supported gathering more information before consent. The committee agreed to hold the item for further discussion rather than sending it to the March 3 consent agenda.
2. Washington Traffic Safety Commission Interagency Agreement – Target Zero (CM 26-1042) Deputy Chief Coates presented a renewed interagency agreement for $9,500 in federal pass-through funds for traffic safety initiatives (seat belts, speeding, distracted driving) through enforcement and education campaigns. The city did not participate in 2025 due to staffing but intends to use the funds for overtime in 2026. Councilmember Forsythe clarified that the grant reimburses overtime for traffic officers. Council President Stewart expressed support, emphasizing that enforcement is one tool alongside engineering and education. Council Vice President Nueva Camino asked about guardrails against disproportionate impact; Deputy Chief Coates responded that officer contact occurs after observing driving behavior. The item was unanimously moved to consent for March 3.
3. 2025 King County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan and Redmond Annex Update (CM 26-1193) Emergency Manager Nathan Hupp presented the required five-year update, highlighting alignment with FEMA’s 2022 guidelines, enhanced focus on climate change, equity, and community vulnerability. Adoption enables access to federal grants (e.g., BRIC). Council President Stewart praised the inclusion of resilience hubs and asked about integrating email alerts as a foundation for communication. Hupp noted the upcoming Everbridge launch and standard operating procedures for alerting. Councilmember Parsi asked about expanding hazard considerations; Hupp mentioned a planned Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) in 2027. The item was moved to consent for March 3.
4. Emergency Management Q1 2026 Update (CM 26-1181) Deputy Chief Farrell introduced newly hired Emergency Manager Nathan Hupp (started November 2025) and Emergency Readiness Coordinator Kyle Nelson (formerly with Bellevue). Hupp reviewed 2025 achievements: hazard mitigation plan update, SWOT analysis of emergency support functions, tabletop exercise for Redmond Lights, and 12 outreach events. For Q1 2026, he highlighted implementing the Everbridge notification system (target April launch), upgrading AM 1650 radio, and FIFA World Cup planning. Councilmember Kritzer requested clearer council roles in emergencies; Hupp noted the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan update will include that. Councilmember Parsi asked about FIFA visitor estimates; Hupp said regional estimates are 750,000. Council Vice President Nueva Camino commended the proactive approach.
5. 2025 Fire Prevention Performance Data (CM 26-1202) Fire Marshal Rich Giseki presented biannual performance metrics, noting no fire fatalities or injuries, and low property loss. The system reliability program (inspected systems up 12% since 2021) contributed to smaller fires. Council President Stewart asked about including response time standards (standard of cover) in future reports; Deputy Chief Farrell agreed it would be doable. Councilmember Kritzer noted zero multifamily residential inspections (conducted by operations crews, not prevention) and hoped for improvement. Councilmember Forsythe asked about dumpster fires and firework-related fires; Giseki said no trends. Council Vice President Nueva Camino noted rising cooking fires and brush fires, emphasizing education and the need for community risk reduction. Councilmember Soni asked about reaching 100% system compliance; Giseki explained challenges with corporate campuses and HOAs.
6. 2025 Redmond Police Activity Report (CM 26-1131) – Read Only Chief Lowe presented the annual report showing crime reductions: auto thefts down 60% (312 to 123), residential burglary down 50%, and overall property crime down. Violent crime also decreased, but domestic violence accounted for 50% of assaults. Council President Stewart confirmed that the suspended Flock ALPR program had no data compromise, and positive examples from before the pause were highlighted (e.g., stolen vehicle recovery). Councilmember Forsythe asked for more detailed statistics on interjurisdictional hits. Councilmember Soni questioned the specific contribution of ALPRs vs other factors. Chief Lowe explained the cameras provide timely alerts. Councilmember Sony expressed frustration at persistent domestic violence; Chief Lowe noted he is exploring a wraparound program from Lakewood and the city has a DV advocate. The council agreed to make this a regular agenda item for future meetings rather than read-only.
Key Outcomes
- Body-worn camera fee resolution was held for further discussion; not sent to consent.
- Washington Traffic Safety Commission agreement moved to consent for March 3 business meeting.
- Hazard Mitigation Plan and Redmond Annex moved to consent for March 3.
- Council expressed interest in scheduling the police activity report as a discussion item in the next quarter.
- All informational items were received as presented.
Meeting Transcript
It is 4 33 p.m. I am calling the February 17th meeting of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee of the Whole to order. In attendance are Council President Stewart, Council Vice President Nueva Camina, Councilmember Parsi, Councilmember Forsythe, Councilmember Sony, Councilmember Kritzer, and myself, presiding officer, Councilmember Prakria. There are three action items on the agenda. The first action item is the body worn camera redaction fees with staff presenter Deputy Chief Brian Coates. Hi, uh good afternoon, Council. Brian Coates, Deputy Police Chief. This is going to be a conversation around a resolution as it relates to collecting fees for body worn camera redaction. I will turn this over to and introduce you to Mavik Hazan, our civilian commander who will discuss this item. Also online for questions is Chief Lowe, who's joining us remotely. So with that, turn it over to Mobbett. Thank you. Most of the information we do have outlined in the agenda memo. Uh, but the basis of this is uh to actually recover the costs incurred of direct staff time uh that's allocated towards generating uh the release of records uh of body worn camera footage only for those parties that are uh qualified to receive them. And those would be um people that are not directly related to a case that uh speaks to the case. Oh are there any questions? Um I think I saw council member Forsyth's hand up first, so I will go there. I will kick us off. Thank you. Um thank you for bringing forward the information. I was really glad to see that the people that are involved in an incident will not be charged this um this fee. Um so that kind of went at one of my questions, which I believe also it would relate to no fee for cases of allegations of misconduct. Would that be covered in that? The exemption would apply to the exemption would apply to people who are directly involved with a case. Yes. Okay. So if there's an allegation of misconduct, the person that would be the accused um work accuser um would not face this fee. That's right. Okay. And is there any cap on how much the fee could be? Uh it's a set per minute fee. Right. Uh, and there's no cap. Uh have we explored looking at a cap? Uh we can. Okay. Thank you. Um, Council Vice President Nueva Camino. Thank you. Um building off of the question that Councilmember Forsyth just asked. Uh will there will requesters receive an estimate before work begins since there is no cap. Yeah. This way there's a it will be. Great. Thank you. Uh Councilmember Parsi. Um you mentioned that there is gonna be um there is increasing cost um based on this fee that we currently provide for free. Have we uh do we have an idea of the current cost um that have been incurred so far and an um and an estimate for the revenue to be generated from the program and estimated cost for implementing this program? I think it's important to note that we haven't really looked at the revenue piece of this. To put it in context, this comes from uh ever increasing demand for our body worn camera footage for private uses, typically on YouTube.
openpublica.com