Washington (CNN)The Obama administration plans to prohibit federal agencies from providing to local cops certain kinds of military equipment such as grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons and bayonets, in the wake of controversy over a "militarized" police response to unrest last summer in Ferguson, Missouri.
The new prohibitions are part of an executive order President Barack Obama issued for federal agencies to review the types of equipment they provide to local and state police.
Obama plans to travel Monday to Camden, N.J., to highlight crime reduction and community policing tactics that the administration hopes can be a model around the country. A spate of officer-involved shootings and the deaths of African-Americans in confrontations with police has made policing an issue the administration is forced to grapple with.
Agencies including the Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security departments help provide equipment to local police.
The banned list includes: tank-like armored vehicles that move on tracks, certain types of camouflage uniforms, bayonets, firearms and ammunition of .50 caliber or higher, grenade launchers, and weaponized aircraft.
The presidential order will establish a "controlled equipment" list, with tightened requirements before federal agencies can transfer equipment to local cops. These will include riot control equipments and drones. Federal agencies will also require local police to provide more data so the government can better track equipment.
Local police can still bypass the federal restrictions and bans by buying the equipment from private sellers.
More: www.cnn.com
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