In 2014, as the world looked on in shock, heavily-armored, combat-grade military vehicles rolled down a city street towards angry protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. As some in the crowd hurled rocks and bottles, local police in commando gear armed with weapons designed for the battlefield swept towards demonstrators upset by the death of Michael Brown, who had been fatally shot by a city police officer. On Monday, President Barack Obama announced a new executive order aimed at making sure that situation -- more often associated with Palestine or Cairo’s Tahrir Square than America’s heartland -- doesn’t happen again. Speaking in Camden, New Jersey, the president banned the Pentagon from issuing some surplus military hardware -- including rifles, grenade launchers and armored vehicles -- to police departments nationwide. The edict is in line with recommendations of a White House task force on tensions between police and communities of color, convened in the aftermath of the riots in Ferguson. Officials finalized the task force’s final report Monday. Closing the government tap that sends material designed for firefights in Iraq or Afghanistan to communities like Ferguson and others around the country, Obama says, is a giant step towards building mutual trust between the police who patrol in crime-ravaged communities and the people who live there.

“We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force, as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them. It can alienate and intimidate local residents, and send the wrong message,” he says. “So we’re going to prohibit some equipment made for the battlefield that is not appropriate for local police departments.”

The executive order prevents the Defense Department from offering a wide range of surplus military equipment to local police forces as part of the 1033 program. The newly prohibited hardware includes armored vehicles that move on tracks instead of wheels, weaponized ships, aircraft or vehicles, large-caliber guns and ammunition and rifle bayonets intended for hand-to-hand combat.

The task force’s rationale: Those weapons and vehicles are highly intimidating, very destructive and inappropriate in a civilian setting.

Further changes include tighter controls on who gets surplus airplanes, helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, drones and heavily armored military troop-transport vehicles designed specifically to withstand roadside bombs in Iraq. Those items, as well as hardware common to police SWAT teams and crowd-control squads -- battering rams, stun grenades, riot shields, helmets and heavy-duty batons -- can be obtained but only on an as-needed basis and after proper review.

“There is other equipment that may be needed in certain cases, but only with proper training,” says Obama, who came to Camden to underscore the progress the city’s police have made in building relations with the community while simultaneously lowering crime. “So we’re going to ensure that departments have what they need, but also that they have the training to use it.”

In a press briefing aboard Air Force One, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters the White House task force said the president needed to “balance the needs of law enforcement with the sorts of equipment that we found contributed to unrest in communities.”

In putting tighter controls on the military equipment departments can still obtain, Schultz says, “we’ll look for more stringent protocols in terms of more transparency, and more accountability.”

Inimai Chettiar, director of the Justice Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, applauded the president for taking the first step towards de-militarizing the nation’s police force. But she says the president could have taken another important step by banning police from spending government grants on military-style hardware.

“I was actually a little disappointed to not see any reform to the actual federal funds that are sent out,” Chettiar said. Each year, she added, Washington sends $3.8 billion out to law enforcement agencies; the ones that really want sniper rifles or rocket grenades can simply buy them on the open market.

“The issue is not never using military equipment. The issue is, are police using equipment and funds for their intended outcome,” she says. “The problem exists not just in equipment but in federal funds. There is absolutely no assurance that those funds are going to community policing. I wish that was included in what [Obama] did.”

But Michael D. Lyman, an expert in police tactics and training, says Obama’s directive could leave law enforcement short-handed at a crucial time, and tie up necessary equipment in government red tape.

“Look at 9/11: that was a military situation,” said Lyman, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “That's a military situation, but it’s the cops that were there first. The same goes for the Boston marathon bombing, and the police were there first. The police don’t have a crystal ball. They don’t know what’s coming down the pike next.”

In fact, he added, the gun fight between rival motorcycle gangs outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, on Sunday -- in which nine people were killed, 18 people injured and about 170 suspects arrested -- proves that local police need heavy-duty equipment.

“You’ve got nine people dead in a bar. You’ve got firefights, you’ve got non-conventional weapons,” Lyman said. “How would you like to be the first officer to arrive?”

Although images of the confrontations in Ferguson made people uncomfortable, “it was an evolving problem. It started out with a big enough problem but it got worse with the number of people there rioting,” Lyman said.

“There were people looting and burning,” he said. “The problem in Ferguson extended well beyond the initial incident” in which Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old who was not armed.

Nevertheless, Chettiar said, Obama seems to have his eye on a larger goal: ensuring that police serve the public as well as protect it.

“What is the mission of a 21st century police force?” Cettiar asks. “Is it purely to focus on crime prevention at any expense? Or is it about preventing crime without intruding on people?”

“We can do both,” she said. “They’re not mutually exclusive.”



