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Fort Pierce city leaders pushing for police body cameras

Posted at 12:37 AM, Oct 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-04 07:43:46-04

Fort Pierce city leaders are moving forward with recommendations made by a grand jury in the shooting death of Demarcus Semer. 

When the grand jury came down with the decision not to indict the two officers, the jurors still made several recommendations for the police department, including using the body cameras and dash cameras. 

The police department has body cameras and dash cameras, but they are not all being used. Some of that has to do with the expense of the equipment, but there's also no clear policy in place for how they should be used and funded. 

Commissioner Reggie Sessions called for a policy to be created. By the end of November he wants the chief to be ready to pitch what she thinks the best policy would be and the best cameras to use if more need to be purchased.

"I was very disappointed to know that we have these cameras put in place, however, they were not utilized. That should be part of the investigation to find out why they were not because if we are buying the equipment and for whatever reasons the equipment is not being used, then someone needs to answer to that," said Sessions. 

Some commissioners say that dash cameras and body cameras will not prevent the shootings. They want more resources and funding to go into training. 

City leaders want to wait to see what an internal investigation into the officers actions finds to determine what policy changes are most needed.