In response to the Ferguson protests and police reaction, President Barack Obama proposed on Monday new funding designed to help improve relations between police departments and the minority communities they are supposed to protect and serve.
The $263 million requested by the White House would largely go toward equipping police around the country with body cameras and better training them with military equipment, reported NBC News.
If congressional approval is granted, the program will dedicate $75 million over three years, match 50 percent of state funding, and will help pay for more than 50,000 cameras.
"This is not a problem just of Ferguson, Missouri. This is a national problem," Obama said, adding that the program hopes to curb the "simmering level" of distrust between police officers and communities around the nation.
Major changes won't be made to the military equipment transfer program that sends equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies, the White House said. Instead, the administration will attempt to focus on more effective oversight, transparency and training to ensure the military equipment is adequately used, NBC reported.
Obama clarified that he wants to make sure that the U.S. is not turning its police forces into a "militarized culture."
The announcement comes one week after a grand jury decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson, the now-resigned police officer responsible for shooting and killing Michael Brown in Ferguson in August. Protests, riots and looting immediately broke out in Ferguson in response to the decision. The unrest in Ferguson was met with fierce police retaliation.
Following the grand jury decision, Obama met with Cabinet members, law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders to decide what actions should be taken to ensure that violent protests between activists and police are avoided in the future.
Along with the body cameras and increased training proposed by Obama, the president also announced the formation of a new "Task Force on 21st Century Policing" to be led by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey.
Obama insisted that "this time will be different," because "the President of the United States is deeply vested in making it different."
