President Barack Obama, right, speaks during his meeting with elected officials, law enforcement officials and community and faith leaders in the Old Executive Office Building on the White House Complex in Washington, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. Obama said that in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old man in Ferguson, Missouri, he wants to make sure to build better trust between police and the communities they serve. Also at the meeting are New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, and Charles Ramsey, center, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Dept.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Monday he wants to ensure the U.S. isn’t building a “militarized culture” within police departments, while maintaining federal programs that provide the type of military-style equipment that were used to dispel racially charged protests in Ferguson, Mo.

Instead, the president is asking Congress for funding to buy 50,000 body cameras to record events like the shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown and look for ways to build trust and confidence between police and minority communities nationwide. He announced the creation of a task force to study success stories and recommend ways the government can support accountability, transparency and trust in police.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Monday new Justice Department plans aimed at ending racial profiling.

With protests ongoing in Ferguson and across the country, Obama spoke to reporters at the end of a White House meeting with police, civil rights activists and local leaders and acknowledged the participants told him that there have been task forces in the past and “nothing happens.”

“Part of the reason this time will be different is because the president of the United States is deeply invested in making sure that this time is different,” Obama said.

At least for now, Obama is staying away from Ferguson in the wake of the uproar over a grand jury’s decision last week not to charge Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Brown.