Reacting to the nationwide unrest resulting from events in Ferguson, Mo., the Obama administration on Monday announced measures aimed at fostering trust between communities and their police departments.
The President will ask Congress for $263 million to pay for expanded police and training and to provide as many as 50,000 body-worn cameras to local units.
The White House is also readying an executive order to add increased oversight to the several federal programs that transfer surplus military equipment to local police authorities, but the administration will not eliminate the programs or cut off certain types of equipment transfers.
In a meeting this afternoon with members of the law enforcement community and residents of Ferguson, President Obama referenced a “simmering distrust that exists between too many police departments and too many communities of color.”
He said that his forthcoming executive order is intended to prevent the creation of “a militarized culture inside our local law enforcement” – one that critics say already exists.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the afternoon, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said “the federal government “bears responsibility to ensure that [these] programs are administered in a away that makes consistent the need for oversight.”
He said the proposal would expand training for police using surplus equipment.
The Administration stopped short of demanding the return of any specific military-style equipment in use by police forces around the country.
In September, representatives from three agencies that administer transfer programs – the Defense Department, FEMA, and the Department of Justice – testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the issue of police militarization.
Lawmakers learned that there is no formal training offered to local police that receive surplus military equipment. Agencies also admitted that current or previous federal civil rights investigations do not disqualify a local police department from receiving military equipment.
The Department of Justice is currently investigating the Ferguson police department for possible civil rights abuses. Its deployment of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) and tactical gear in response to peaceful protests in August further heightened tensions between the mostly-black community and the mostly-white police force.
Under questioning from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Brian Kamoie, a FEMA administrator in charge of one of the many transfer programs, admitted there are a number of instances, including in Ferguson, when police have improperly used military gear to patrol protests.
“We have a range of remedies available to us should there be any finding of non-compliance,” Kamoie told lawmakers. He suggested that the agency could pursue corrective actions against local law enforcement, which include the reimbursement of federal funding.
So far, no action has been taken against any police departments in the St. Louis area.
Sen. Paul also took issue with bayonets being listed as one of the many pieces of military equipment that can be transferred from the military to local police.
Public details about the new White House proposal were scant. Earnest said that an additional report with specific recommendations on military equipment transfers – like whether or not bayonets will remain on the approved list – would be released in the next 120 days.
