David Jackson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The government will try to reduce the "simmering distrust" between police and minority communities, President Obama said Monday, in part by issuing new rules for military-style equipment and seeking more cameras to be worn by law enforcement officers.

"This is not a problem simply of Ferguson, Missouri," Obama said after a day of meetings with local government and law enforcement officials from across the country. "This is a problem that is national."

The president announced a new task force to study best police practices, as well as tighter controls on federal money that local law enforcement agencies use to buy military-style equipment.

The goal, Obama said, is "to make sure that we're not building a militarized culture inside our local law enforcement."

The Obama administration also unveiled a three-year, $263 million plan to assist community policing, including a $75 million plan for 50,000 new body cameras to be worn by officers. The president said that community policing can help make officers and their communities "partners" in battling crime and promoting safety.

"We can build confidence and we can build trust, but it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said.

Obama's meetings came a week after a grand jury declined to indict a white Ferguson police officer in the shooting death of an 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown. The decision triggered protests and demonstrations in Ferguson and throughout the country.

The White House also issued a report on federal programs that supply local law enforcement agencies with equipment. The report did not explicitly call for a ban on the use of military equipment by police but did recommend that equipment financed by federal money have "a legitimate civilian law enforcement purpose."

Obama signed papers Monday putting the report's recommendations into effect, including the development of uniform rules among the different federal departments that supply equipment to local police.

The proposal for the body cameras would have limited impact. The FBI reports there are 626,942 police officers on the nation's streets, though departments in Ferguson and elsewhere have expressed interest in obtaining cameras irrespective of federal money.

Brown's parents have campaigned for more use of body cameras by officers.

The new "Task Force on 21st Century Policing" will look at ways in which some police departments have improved community relations, Obama said, and try to make those efforts national. The task force will be chaired by Charles H. Ramsey, the police commissioner of Philadelphia, and Laurie Robinson, professor at George Mason University and former assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs.

Obama said the task force will report back to him in 90 days.

During his day-long set of meetings, Obama's guests included Mayors Bill de Blasio of New York, Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, Martin Walsh of Boston, and Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary, Indiana.

Civil rights representatives included Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza; and Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network.

Afterward, Sharpton said future events will determine if the meeting was a "feel good session" or a move toward real change. He expressed confidence, saying Obama had vowed to "put his full weight" behind the effort.

The president made a similar pledge in speaking with reporters, saying that "I'm going to make sure that we follow through -- not to solve every problem, not to tear down every barrier of mistrust that may exist, but to make things better."

The report on police equipment said that, between fiscal years 2009 and 2014, the federal government provided nearly $18 billion in resources to local law enforcement agencies through programs administered by five departments: Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The heads of those departments met with Obama on Monday.

Most of the equipment is "fairly routine," the report said — "office furniture, computers and other technological equipment, personal protective equipment and basic firearms." But a small percentage does cover "military equipment, including high powered weapons and tactical vehicles."

The report called for a government-wide, consistent list of controlled military property allowed for acquisition by law enforcement agencies. It also called for local civilian — non-police — review and authorization of equipment acquired by local law enforcement agencies.

The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union, has waged an intense lobbying campaign to keep the surplus equipment flowing.

"The armored vehicles and personnel carriers are not designed to hurt anybody,'' said Jim Pasco, the FOP's executive director. "They are designed to protect people. And while they may not look good to everybody, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially those people who are going into a riot situation and need the protection.''

In his series of White House meetings on Ferguson, Obama spoke with Cabinet members whose departments will be affected by the new spending rules.

Afterward, Obama sat down with local and national civil rights leaders for a discussion that included what the White House called "mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color."

Later in the day, Obama met with various elected officials, members of law enforcement, and community and faith leaders from across the country. Their discussion included "how communities and law enforcement can work together to build trust to strengthen neighborhoods across the country," said the White House schedule.

The $263 million assistance package proposed by the Obama administration includes expanded training for law enforcement agencies and Justice Department assistance for community policing.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson