Obama to hold meetings on post-Ferguson policing

President Obama will hold three meetings at the White House Monday focusing on police tactics in minority communities as protests persist over a grand jury’s refusal to indict a white police officer for the shooting death of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

A White House official said Sunday night that Mr. Obama will meet with Cabinet members Monday to review federal funding and programs that provide military-style equipment from the Pentagon to local police departments. After the shooting death of Michael Brown in August, the president and top advisers signaled that they were concerned about the armored vehicles and heavy weapons deployed to confront protesters.

Mr. Obama also will meet with young civil rights leaders “to discuss their efforts and broader challenges we still face as a nation, including the mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color,” the official said.

And finally, the president will confer with elected officials, community, civil rights and faith leaders and law enforcement officials from around the country “to discuss how communities and law enforcement can work together to build trust to strengthen neighborhoods across the country,” the aide said.

A grand jury in Missouri last week refused to bring charges agains Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Mr. Brown, who was unarmed. The officer’s attorneys said Sunday he has resigned from the force, effective immediately, due in part to concern about threats of violence against other police officers.

Protesters have been targeting shopping malls and blocking major highways in various cities since the grand jury’s decision was announced.

Since last week’s rioting in Ferguson and elsewhere over the grand jury’s decision, liberal and civil rights leaders have been calling on Mr. Obama to visit Ferguson personally. Monday’s events make it likely that such a visit will not happen.

“Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and around the country have shined a spotlight on the importance of strong, collaborative relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve,” the White House official said. “As the country has witnessed, disintegration of trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve can destabilize communities, undermine the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, undermine public safety, create resentment in local communities and make the job of delivering police services less safe and more difficult.”