President Barack Obama launched his personal Twitter account and his first tweets say a lot about his priorities moving forward.
After an introductory tweet announcing he was joining Twitter, Obama quickly moved to promote his visit with youth and police in Camden, N.J. to talk about better police practices.
In Camden today, seeing first-hand how smart policing is making the community safer while building trust. pic.twitter.com/3MiWk43c8g
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
It’s no coincidence that the tweet is timed with a major White House attempt to seem like it is making strides in addressing the policing problems that plague the nation.
As much of his base calls out for police reform, Obama announced Monday that he would ban the federal government from distributing certain types of military equipment to local police and more strictly regulate the federal distribution less heavy duty equipment.
The announcement was in many ways hollow since much of the military gear banned was already banned or hardly used by police.
“We’ve seen how militarized gear sometimes gives people a feeling like they are an occupying force as opposed to a part of the community there to protect them,” Obama said in his speech in Camden. “Some equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments.”
The White House has been pushing body cameras as part of their initiative to address police issues. The administration has said it will spend $75 million over 3 years to buy about 50,000 body cameras for law enforcement.
The president also announced Monday that he will send several of his cabinet members to large cities across the country to discuss better police practices.
The White House’s task force on policing also released a 116-page report the same day full of recommendations for all levels of law enforcement.
Obama had a twitter account run by Organizing for Action staff. His first tweet on the new account indicated that only after six years as president was he trusted personally with the social media privilege.
Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
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