Redmond Police Camera Plan Moving Forward, Despite Poll Problems

REDMOND, WA — Redmond's police chief will pitch a plan to equip his officers with dashboard and body-worn cameras next month, despite apparent interference with the results of an online public poll, officials told Patch this week.

Earlier in May, the police department launched the online survey seeking to gauge residents' opinion on implementing body cameras using a simple "yes or no" question. The poll was initially slated to run through Sunday, May 23, but the city closed it early after a suspicious spike in responses.

In the days after the survey's launch, participation was in line with expectations, and public support for the plan appeared overwhelmingly positive, with close to 90 percent choosing the "yes" option as of May 10. Completing the survey did not require users to sign up or provide any personal information, and a flood of responses later in the month gave the city pause.

"We had received about 1,300 responses in the first 10 days, and then an additional 32,000 responses in 48 hours when we closed the poll," said Jill Smith, a spokesperson for Redmond. "Because of the drastic response rate that is well outside of any normal response rate we receive on surveys/polls, we suspect the responses were tampered."

Smith said the city was working with its vendor to determine if legitimate responses could be separated from the suspicious ones, but Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe plans to move ahead with a presentation to City Council on June 15 either way.

If approved, Redmond would become just the ninth King County law enforcement agency to equip officers with body-worn cameras and the fifth to use both body and dashboard cameras. The city estimates standing up the program would cost $815,000, with another $635,000 needed each year to maintain service.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney's office is still reviewing an investigation into a September 2020 police shooting that killed 39-year-old Andrea Churna. Since the city does not have police cameras, the investigation primarily relied on witness statements, police reports and other evidence.