Obama to curb cops' use of military gears

President Barack Obama plans to put in place new restrictions on the use of military equipment by police departments, following unrest in US cities over the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers, the White House said yesterday.

Obama will ban police use of equipment such as explosive-resistant vehicles with tracked wheels like those seen on army tanks, the White House said in a fact sheet. For other types of equipment, such as MRAP (mine-resistant ambush protected) vehicles and riot shields, departments will have to provide added justification for their use.

Obama will announce the steps, which are the result of an executive order, during a visit later yesterday to Camden, New Jersey, where he plans to push efforts to encourage trust-building between police and the communities they serve.

The recent turmoils in Ferguson and Baltimore highlighted divisions between black and white Americans.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after the protests in Baltimore, 69 percent of respondents said America has a serious issue with race. Nearly three-quarters said there is more racism in the United States than the country is willing to admit. The Reuters/Ipsos poll is measured with a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.