ST. LOUIS — Mayor Lyda Krewson, under pressure from top city politicians, said on Wednesday that she would form a committee to seek vendors to equip police with body cameras, after the idea fizzled two years ago.

Her statements mark something of a public reversal. Her staff said two weeks ago that body cameras were too expensive. And, two years ago, her administration backed out of a trial, saying recently that the department then more urgently needed other items — patrol car dash cameras, GPS, computers and radios, for instance.

But the issue resurfaced Wednesday at a meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the city’s top fiscal body. Aldermanic President Lewis Reed called on Krewson and city Comptroller Darlene Green to spend surplus dollars, and quickly, on the cameras.

“This is a major discussion that began here in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting,” Reed told Green and Krewson. “And we’re still sitting here, and to have it be this difficult to even get it on the agenda so we can take a real look at this is just beyond me.”

Reed suggested using $5 million of a $23 million budget surplus this year, half of which can be used for capital expenses.