The rape suspect didn’t know police were watching.

Earlier this year, a Seattle officer took a report of forcible rape and kept returning to the neighborhood, hoping the suspect’s vehicle might show up again. Eventually, it did.

“He immediately called our Real Time Crime Center,” Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes recalled during SPD’s 2025 Year in Review.

Analysts pulled video from the previous day and located the same car described by a witness. The officer asked for confirmation of the registration tag. Analysts matched the plate, and officers made the arrest.

The case is one of hundreds illustrating how Seattle’s Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), which launched in May 2025, is changing the way the department responds to crime.

Officers 3x more likely to make arrest with RTCC support, data shows

According to a department analysis of 220,000 calls for service, officers and detectives are three times more likely to arrest a suspect when they receive support from RTCC analysts.

SPD’s Performance Analytics & Research group reviewed every 911 response in the nine months since the center opened. The results, Barnes said, show the impact of pairing frontline officers with real‑time data, video, and investigative support.

The RTCC assisted in 17 homicide cases last year and helped close 10 of them, which Barnes credits for the city’s homicide clearance rate rising to 86 percent, which is far above the national average.

The system is poised to grow with new cameras being installed in Capitol Hill, the Stadium District, and near Garfield High School.

The expansion comes amid privacy concerns.

In fall 2025, the Seattle City Council voted 7–2 to expand video surveillance, adding more closed‑circuit cameras and allowing police access to 145 Seattle Department of Transportation traffic cameras.

More than 100 residents spoke against the move during public comment, concerned that expanded surveillance could expose immigrants, protesters, and marginalized communities to federal monitoring. Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who voted against the measures, warned the system could be misused by federal agencies.

Public Safety Chair Bob Kettle pushed back on those concerns, saying many criticisms were based on misconceptions.

“SPD only shares data with the federal government in matters of criminal enforcement,” Kettle said, noting that otherwise “a federal agency would need to subpoena the data.”

The Real Time Crime Center remains in a two‑year pilot phase, with an independent evaluation underway by the Office of Inspector General and researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more of Aaron Granillo’s stories here.

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SEATTLE — Seattle is one of the only host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with a stadium in the heart of downtown. While that gives soccer fans a wide range of options to get to a match or join a celebration, it also requires intensive planning to meet the varying transportation needs.

Sound Transit, King County Metro, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) laid out how each of their agencies is preparing for the upcoming competition during presentations on Thursday before the Seattle City Council’s Transportation, Waterfront, and Seattle Center Committee.

RELATED | Seattle leaders mark 100 days until FIFA World Cup with artwork, security plans

The overarching goal is to create a safe, inclusive, and welcoming atmosphere for visitors while limiting traffic impacts to the shortest time period possible for those not participating in the FIFA events. Adding to the challenge is that the international match-ups are scheduled to take place on weekdays while people are trying to get to their jobs.

Extensive street closures will be in effect around the Stadium District on game days, beginning four hours before kick-off and extending two to three hours post-game. That will help accommodate the intense pedestrian traffic that is anticipated, as many as 750,000 visitors try to navigate downtown on foot.

King County Metro plans to add more service during the four weeks of the World Cup. On match days, an additional 60 buses will be in operation, scaling back to an extra 30 buses on non-match days. There will also be a Waterfront service available.

Sound Transit will add more trains and expects to transport up to 2,800 riders per hour. The added capacity will extend from three hours before a match begins and continue until three hours after the match. Service from the eastside will also be available when the Crosslake Connection opens on March 28th.

SEE ALSO | Iran’s participation in Seattle World Cup match up in the air following US strikes

Both systems will now allow payment to be made by tapping a debit or credit card, in addition to the standard ORCA cards that have been used to cover fares. Sound Transit will also introduce a three-day visitor pass available through an ORCA card.

WSDOT will tear down its Revive I-5 construction zone on the Ship Canal Bridge and alternate the express lanes between north- and southbound directions depending on the time of day.

To help in these transit efforts, just this week Congress allocated money $8.4 million for transit service, which is on top of $9 million already promised last year by the state.

Ted Land had almost given up on being a homeowner.

When he moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2014, he was an award-winning television journalist, having lived and reported in Indiana and Alaska before arriving in Seattle to work for a local station, King 5. At first, he rented a studio apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

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“It’s very walkable, with lots of transit, very L.G.B.T. friendly, great restaurants, nightlife, parks,” said Mr. Land, 40. “It has everything I like in a neighborhood.”

His journalism career had been fraught with unexpected transitions, so it didn’t seem sensible to buy a home. “I thought I was going to move up and be a reporter in New York City or L.A. or D.C.,” he said. “I had my sights set on that. It really wasn’t even on my mind. Buying a house seemed so out of reach for me.”

As the years passed and he bounced from rental to rental, the hustle of TV news began to wear him out. Finally, in 2022, he grabbed an opportunity to move into corporate communications. With that choice came a higher income and a more stable future in Seattle with expanded living options.

“I kept signing lease after lease, not wanting to confront the daunting process of purchasing, and increasingly frustrated with the fact that I didn’t lock in a low interest rate during Covid like so many of my peers did,” Mr. Land said.

He had up to about $620,000 to spend, but as a single-income buyer, he was vexed by the down payment. “Everyone says that you’ve got to put down 20 percent. It’s like, ‘Where am I going to get $100,000? Does anyone know? Can you please tell me that?’”

With help from his broker, Mark Chavez of Windermere Real Estate, Mr. Land arranged to structure a purchase with 10 percent down using a mortgage insurance that costs him less than $100 per month, with his payments reducing in size until they total 20 percent of the home price. “I mean, $50,000 is a lot easier to save for than $100,000,” he said.

But even with that cushion, options were limited in pricey Seattle, especially for the kind of home he wanted. “Apartments are noisy places,” Mr. Land said. “They just are. And that kind of gets old after a while. I was looking for something a little quieter where I’m not hearing neighbors all the time.”

Most of Mr. Chavez’s clients want single-family homes, the broker said, but “it’s a bigger expense and there’s more to take care of, like the landscape. It used to be that to get into a condo, the entry point was more affordable. However, with many homeowner associations underfunded for future expenses, it is becoming more challenging to buy into a condominium.”

The middle ground? Townhouses. But every square foot needed to count, and location was critical. Mr. Land loved Capitol Hill, but felt he couldn’t afford to buy there. “I just really like being in the central part of the city,” he said. “The more I looked, the more I realized that walkability is a really important attribute for me.”

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