Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) — President Obama signed an order on Thursday that officially created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Obama had announced on Dec. 1 that he would take this step. The task force will convene sessions where they will hear testimony and accept proposed recommendations from invited witnesses. By March, the task force is expected to present a report and recommendations to the president.
According to the White House, the chairpersons of the task force will be Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Laurie Robinson, profesor of Criminology, Law and Society and George Mason University. Robinson is also a former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.
The task force will also include 10 other members, including attorneys, leaders of non-profit organizations and law enforcement officers.
Obama created the task force after weeks of protests over the police-involved shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Mo., and the death of Eric Garner at the hands of a New York police officer in recent months.
