--- title: White House Policing Task Force Presents Recommendations to Obama description: Group calls for minimizing the use of military level equipment during demonstrations, but shies away from suggesting more body cameras canonical: https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-02T21:55:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:22.764Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Task Force Calls for Better Data on Police Shootings og:description: After Ferguson, activists noted og:url: https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8322d06fd1ea5a8c/698781bce53abacc504d7d8c/ap555612860523.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5939 og:image:height: 3341 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Task Force Calls for Better Data on Police Shootings twitter:description: After Ferguson, activists noted twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8322d06fd1ea5a8c/698781bce53abacc504d7d8c/ap555612860523.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Task Force Calls for Better Data on Police Shootings > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ba96d227-103d-40a0-a77a-861128e06cd7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 2, 2015 9:55 PM UTC  President Barack Obama, flanked by former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson, left, and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, speaks during a meeting with members of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing President Barack Obama, flanked by former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson, left, and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, speaks during a meeting with members of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 2, 2015 9:55 PM UTC A task force established by President Obama after high-profile shootings of black men by police is calling for the federal government to keep better records on officer-involved shootings. After 90 days of hearings and meetings with a wide range of civil rights groups and local police agencies, the [Task Force on 21st Century Policing](http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/PolicingTaskForce) included the recommendation in its [first report](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/interim%5Ftf%5Freport.pdf) Monday. It notes that a 1994 law requires the Department of Justice to gather data about excessive force by police officers and publish an annual summary but notes that has never been done in a “serious and sustained” way. The report also suggests that local agencies adopt more of a community policing approach, minimize the use of military equipment at protests and rallies and have outside investigators look into police shootings. But it stopped short of endorsing widespread adoption of body cameras, an idea which first came up after a shooting in Ferguson, Mo. Task force members said that body cameras could be helpful but that privacy concerns need to be considered first. “Any technology we apply, we need to understand its usefulness,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, the co-chair of the task force, on a call with reporters Monday. “But we also need to make sure we’re working within a constitutional framework.” “Today we’re talking about body cameras, but tomorrow it will be something else,” Ramsey added. Marc Morial, president of the civil rights organization National Urban League, which called for more body cameras in [testimony ](http://nul.iamempowered.com/content/10-point-justice-plan-0)to the task force, praised the recommendations for independent investigators, but said that not coming down hard in favor of body and dashboard cameras a “missed opportunity.” “Privacy concerns that might be there are not enough to put the breaks on an idea whose time has come,” Morial tells TIME. Aside from the specific recommendations, the report stresses the need for police to establish trust and demonstrate transparency to the communities they serve. The task force makes some evergreen calls to action like engaging with community members and better addressing prejudice, while also calling on the federal government to take a hard look at criminal justice policies such as sentencing and reentry and societal issues like poverty and education that can further exacerbate police distrust. Many of the federal task force’s recommendations align with similar calls made by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which released a report on community-police relations in January. Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary, Ind., says that the report rightfully acknowledges that the federal government’s role in improving police-community relations is limited. “It acknowledges that while there can be guidance and training and technical assistance that can be provided at the federal level, there really has to be a local approach and a local commitment to addressing those concerns,” she said. Gene Voegtlin, a spokesman for the International Association of Chiefs of Police says, “This is more than just a police issue,” says “It’s a criminal justice system issue, and honestly probably a societal issue.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/"},"headline":"White House Task Force Calls for Better Data on Police Shootings","datePublished":"2015-03-02T21:55:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:22.764Z","description":"Group calls for minimizing the use of military level equipment during demonstrations, but shies away from suggesting more body cameras","url":"https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/","keywords":["justice","White House","Ferguson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8322d06fd1ea5a8c/698781bce53abacc504d7d8c/ap555612860523.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8322d06fd1ea5a8c/698781bce53abacc504d7d8c/ap555612860523.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3728880/task-force-police-shootings/","name":"White House Task Force Calls for Better Data on Police Shootings"}}]}] ```