As we know the body cameras owned by the Fort Pierce Police Department are not being used by officers. They are sitting in storage collecting dust.
Not only were the dash cameras not activated, but body cameras owned by the Fort Pierce Police Department were not in use. The department hasn’t been using them, and now the city of Port St Lucie is saying no to body cameras altogether. The City Council decided this week that body cameras were too expensive. Police Chief John Bolduc said that body cameras are an emerging technology, and that they will be keeping an eye out for when the cameras become more cost effective. Stuart and Sewell’s Point police already have body cameras in use.
A new report from CBS12 claims that the officer that fired the fatal shot on Semer had a body camera in the trunk of his police cruiser, and wasn’t using it by order of the chief. The confusing information over who knew what and when has led to anger in the community. Members of the community held a rally asking for the Semer case to be reviewed again. Commissioner Reginald Sessions lead the non-violent rally.
The Black community stresses the importance of transparency through the use of body cameras and dashboard cameras.
We are now learning thanks to the investigation by CBS News Jana Eschbach that Fort Pierce police officers with broken patrol car cameras went months without getting the cameras repaired.
The city put out a statement yesterday claiming that they would be doing an internal investigation.
