--- title: Inside Obama's Police Task Force description: Can a panel launched after Ferguson actually bring real change? canonical: https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-22T23:16:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:05.646Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Obama's Police Task Force Faces Long Odds og:description: Can a panel launched after Ferguson actually bring real change? og:url: https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8810a0d74fbba71/69877b48cd68480710099430/barack-obama-police-task-force-ferguson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama Policing Task Force Charles Ramsey Laurie Robinson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama's Police Task Force Faces Long Odds twitter:description: Can a panel launched after Ferguson actually bring real change? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8810a0d74fbba71/69877b48cd68480710099430/barack-obama-police-task-force-ferguson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama's Police Task Force Faces Uphill Battle  by [Alex Altman](/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Jan 22, 2015 11:16 PM CUT  US President Barack Obama speaks after a meeting on building trust in communities following Ferguson unrest, with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey (L) and George Mason University professor of Criminology, Law and Society Laurie Robinson, who were appointed by Obama to chair a task force on policing, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Dec. 1, 2014. US President Barack Obama speaks after a meeting on building trust in communities following Ferguson unrest, with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey (L) and George Mason University professor of Criminology, Law and Society Laurie Robinson, who were appointed by Obama to chair a task force on policing, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Dec. 1, 2014.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alex Altman](/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Jan 22, 2015 11:16 PM CUT In the politician’s arsenal, a task force is a dull yet indispensable weapon: a way to address a problem that isn’t easy to solve. Over the course of his presidency, Barack Obama has created panels to study issues ranging from climate change to gun control to childhood obesity. Task forces are the place where hard-working people go to produce important work that winds up moldering on a shelf. Obama is determined to avoid this fate for his new White House panel on 21st century policing. “This is not going to be an endless report that ends up collecting dust,” the President pledged when he formed the task force in December after grand juries in New York and Ferguson, Mo., declined to charge two white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men. The 11-member group is tasked with identifying concrete ways to mend the ruptured relationship between police and the communities they serve. It must present a draft report to Obama on March 2, recommending methods to strengthen public trust while reducing crime. Ron Davis, executive director of the task force and the director of the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), says he is “extremely confident” the committee will live up to its promise. Davis told a panel held by the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday that the task force, which will hold a series of listening sessions, panel discussions and open forums over the next few weeks, had an opportunity to “redefine policing in a democratic society.” The mandate to do so comes from the top. Attorney General Eric Holder has seized police reform as a legacy issue. At Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Obama said he believes there is broad consensus to repair the rift between police forces and minority communities. “We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can’t walk home without being harassed,” the President said. “Surely we can understand the wife who won’t rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Surely we can agree it’s a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America’s criminal justice system so that it protects and serves us all.” But channeling modest consensus into real change is a tall order—one made trickier by a grim drumbeat of bad feelings and worse news. The killing of two New York City police officers in late December sparked an ugly public dispute between the nation’s largest police force and its liberal mayor and may have led to a huge plummet in arrests. On Wednesday, new reports indicated federal authorities investigating the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown have concluded there is insufficient evidence to charge Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting. A broader Department of Justice probe into the practices of the entire Ferguson police force is ongoing. “I’m realistic about what a task force is actually capable of,” says a person with knowledge of the task force proceedings, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about the committee’s challenges. “The task force can be very useful, but we are now in a place politically where actually creating legislation out of things will be an uphill battle.” ### See 23 Key Moments From Ferguson  On Aug. 9, 2014, unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. This image provided by KMOV-TV shows investigators inspecting Brown's body. Tiffany Mitchell—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, on Aug. 9, 2014, after her son's death Huy Mach—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A fire burns at a QuikTrip store in Ferguson on Aug. 10, 2014, as protests turned violent one day after Brown's death. The night marked the first violent turn for the protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Heavily-armed police advance on a protester on Aug. 11, 2014\. Law enforcement's tactical response, which included military-grade weapons, tanks and SWAT teams, touched off a debate over the militarization of local police forces. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux  A protester takes shelter from billowing smoke during demonstrations in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014\. Such scenes were relatively common during the first week of protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT/Zuma Press  Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol addresses the media in Ferguson on Aug. 15, 2014\. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed NIxon to coordinate law enforcement's response after local departments were criticized for fanning the flames. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Darren Wilson at a Ferguson city council meeting on Feb. 11, 2014\. The image was the first widely-circulated photo of Wilson after the shooting. City of Ferguson/AP  Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air during a demonstration in Ferguson on Aug. 17, 2014\. The "hands up, don't shoot" pose became the defining gesture of the protests. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police in Ferguson fire tear gas in the direction of bottle-throwing crowds on Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch / Polaris  Law enforcement officers look on during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson on Aug. 18, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appeared with Capt. Ron Johnson at Drake's Place Restaurant in Ferguson on Aug. 20, 2014\. Holder's visit was meant to calm tensions after almost 10 days of protests. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—Pool/Getty Images  An anguished Michael Brown, Sr. yells as his son's casket is lowered into the ground at St. Peter's Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 25, 2014. Richard Perry—Reuters  Members of the Ferguson Police Department wear body cameras during a rally on Aug. 30, 2014, in Ferguson. Like a number of departments around the U.S., Ferguson police began using the wearable cameras after Michael Brown was killed. There are no video recordings of the incident involving Brown and officer Darren Wilson. Aaron P. Bernstein—Getty Images  A fire on Sept. 23, 2014 burned a memorial for Michael Brown on the site where he was killed. The memorial was later rebuilt. Jacob Crawford—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, left, addresses protesters in front of the Ferguson Police Department, on Sept. 25, 2014\. Protesters have called for Jackson to resign. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Demonstrators participate at a rally on the campus of St. Louis University on Oct. 13, 2014\. Citizens around St. Louis continued to demonstrate throughout October, including during a performance by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Academic Cornel West is taken into custody after performing an act of civil disobedience at the Ferguson, Mo., police station on Oct. 13, 2014. Charles Rex Arbogast—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother, attends a press conference addressing the U.N. Committee Against Torture, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 12, 2014\. Brown's parents testified in front of the committee about their son's death. Martial Trezzini—EPA  After the announcement that the grand jury brought no charges against Darren Wilson, police officers and protesters faced off on a tense night in which cars and buildings were burned by protesters and tear gas thrown by police, in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, 2014. Jim Young—Reuters  On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice released two reports clearing Officer Wilson of any civil rights violations when he shot and killed Brown but found a pattern of explicit racism and unfair treatment of minorities by Ferguson police officers and local officials. Carolyn Kaster—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson stepped down March 11, 2015, after a federal report harshly criticized the police department, becoming the sixth Ferguson official to resign since the investigation. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Two police officers were shot outside the Ferguson Police Department March 12, 2015, during a demonstration that followed the resignation of the agency’s embattled police chief. The two officers—one from Webster Groves, Mo., the other from St. Louis County—were seriously injured. Lawrence Bryant—St. Louis American/Reuters There are small signs of progress. In December, Congress passed a [law](https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1447 "undefined") requiring police departments to report the death of a person in police custody to the Justice Department. Obama has asked for $263 million in funding for new body cameras and training for police departments. He also ordered a review of a federal program that supplies millions of dollars of military equipment to municipal police departments. Several prominent Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, have called for the party to address criminal-justice policies that harm minority communities. Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, a top conservative donor, is redoubling his efforts to enact criminal-justice reforms. The [growing number of elected Republicans](http://time.com/3648638/republicans-police-reform/ "undefined") calling for justice reform has brightened the prospect of legislative action. On Thursday the Conference of Mayors released a report to help local law enforcement and politicians address the issue. “There’s a growing gulf of mistrust between police and communities they serve,” says Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, Calif., and the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report outlined six areas of focus, from building trust between cops and communities to addressing racial and economic disparities. Karen Freeman-Wilson, the mayor of Gary, Ind., and the chair of the mayoral working group that produced the report, argued the groundswell of anger in the aftermath of Ferguson offered a chance to address long-simmering tensions. “With every tragedy comes opportunity,” she says. ### See The Militarization of US Police Forces Over The Years  Three policemen taking away a civil rights protester during race riots in Newark, N.J., 1967. Evans/Getty Images  Police officers at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August, 1968. Maury Englander—FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images  Police arrest a protestor during an Earth Day demonstration at Boston's Logan Airport, August, 1970. Spencer Grant—Getty Images  A police officer with a tear gas gun during an anti-Ku Klux Klan protest in Washington D.C., November, 1982. Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images  Police chase a demonstrator involved in a protest over the death of a black teen-ager killed by a white assailant in Brooklyn, N.Y., 1989. Gerald Herbert—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Houston police officers arrest a pro-immigration demonstrator in Houston for protesting in the wrong place, August, 1992. Walt Freck—AFP/Getty Images  Washington D.C. police officers gather outside the World Bank as protesters mass, April, 2000. Luke Frazze—AFP/Getty Images  Police in riot gear and armed with pepper spray at an anti-war protest in Chicago, March, 2003. Scott Olson—Getty Images  A Washington, D.C., police officer pepper sprays demonstrators after a barricade along Pennsylvania Avenue was pulled down during the inaugural parade, January 20, 2005. Emile Wamsteker—Bloomberg News  A police officer stands guard during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh, September, 2009. Jason Andrew—Getty Images  A man backs away as police close in on him during unrest in Ferguson, Mo. following Michael Brown's death, Aug. 11, 2014. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times  Police fire tear gas after protesters threw bottles in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch/Polaris The report is full of sensible ideas, but short on concrete detail. And some of its specific suggestions drew immediate opposition. David Berger, the mayor of Lima, Ohio, bristled at the recommendation that police departments hand over responsibility for investigating officer-involved deaths to an independent official as a way to “increase public confidence.” Berger noted that Lima did just that in 2008, when [police in that city shot a young mother to death](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/30lima.html "undefined") and wounded her infant child after arriving at her home to arrest a companion on suspicion of drug dealing. The decision, he says, left the city unable to provide basic information about a case roiling the community, compounding the “dramatic trauma” caused by the incident. Davis said he couldn’t comment on the recommendations of the task force until its work wraps up in early March. Brittany Packnett, a St. Louis educator who was appointed to serve on the task force for her work organizing the Ferguson protests, said in an interview that she was optimistic about the panel and would focus on ensuring the street protests that followed Brown’s death led to concrete action. “I just don’t see us making progress if disruptive change and systemic change don’t go hand in hand,” she says. “I am trying to make sure the connection is fruitful.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/"},"headline":"Obama's Police Task Force Faces Uphill Battle","datePublished":"2015-01-22T23:16:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:05.646Z","description":"Can a panel launched after Ferguson actually bring real change?","url":"https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/","keywords":["justice","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8810a0d74fbba71/69877b48cd68480710099430/barack-obama-police-task-force-ferguson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8810a0d74fbba71/69877b48cd68480710099430/barack-obama-police-task-force-ferguson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama Policing Task Force Charles Ramsey Laurie Robinson","caption":"Barack Obama Policing Task Force Charles Ramsey Laurie Robinson","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3678616/obamas-police-task-force-ferguson/","name":"Obama's Police Task Force Faces Uphill Battle"}}]}] ```