ABC NEWS: [President] Obama will ask Congress for $75 million over three years to subsidize the purchase of up to 50,000 body-worn cameras for local police, according to the White House. The lapel-mounted devices, which record police officers on the job, have won praise from both civil rights advocates and local police union officials who want better documentation of police conduct and that of those they interact with. White House officials believe the cameras would also help improve trust between communities and their police forces. The program is one piece of a $263 million budget request that also includes money for training of law enforcement officers and more resources to reform police departments, administration officials said…
Obama has appointed Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and former Assistant Attorney General and George Mason University professor Laurie Robinson to chair a task force on modern police practices. It will produce a report by late February with recommendations on how to “promote effective crime reduction while building public trust,” according to the White House…
In August, President Obama commissioned a review of federal programs that provide surplus military-style equipment to local law enforcement agencies. The report, released today, finds a significant “lack of consistency” in how those programs are run and audited. Only 4 to 5 percent of resources sold or transferred were of the “controlled” variety (such as small arms, night-vision gear and Humvees), according to the inventory. Most were so-called non-controlled assets, such as office equipment, officials say. Still, tens of thousands of pieces of military-style equipment were transferred from federal government agencies to local law enforcement last year, with 460,000 pieces to date now in possession of local agencies. Those include 92,442 small arms, 44,275 night-vision devices, 5,235 Humvees, 617 mine-resistant vehicles and 616 aircraft… (more)
