Michael Brown Shooting: In Wake of Ferguson, President Obama Orders Body Cameras and Training For Police
Spurred by the aftermath of the shooting and protests in Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama is now calling for $75 million in federal spending to give 50,000 more police body cameras that record their interactions with everyday civilians. However, the president is not pulling back on programs that give local law enforcement military-style equipment.
Obama made this announcement Monday from the White House after he had a series of meetings with his cabinet, law enforcement officials, civil rights leaders and more throughout the day. It seems that the president is largely steering clear of commenting on the racially-charged backlash from a grand jury decision not to indict the white police officer who fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
The president is proposing a $263 million spending package over three years which will increase the number of body-worn cameras, provide more law enforcement training and more reform resources for police departments. The small, lapel-mounted cameras only account for $75 million of the police funding from the federal government.
The White House said the cameras will hopefully help to bridge mistrust between law enforcement officers and the public and help to resolve future disputes between police and witnesses like the issues that were brought up with the Ferguson shooting. Demands for police to wear these cameras increased throughout the U.S. since Brown's death. Some St. Louis area police have begun to wear the cameras and the New York Police Department is now the largest department to use the technology through a pilot program it began in September.
Obama said at the time of the shooting in August there should be reviews of federal programs that give body armor and armored trucks to local police to dispel demonstrators.
"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement and we don't want those lines blurred," Obama said at the time.
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