US President Barack Obama has called for an increase in the use use of body cameras by the police following the shooting of a black teen by an officer in Ferguson.

Obama asked Congress for $263 million for the federal response to the civil rights upheaval in Ferguson. He is setting up a task force to study how to improve modern-day policing

The $263 million would pay for body cameras for police officers to use and expand training for law enforcement in an attempt to build trust in communities such as Ferguson, where a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer in the shooting death last summer.

Obama brought in a series of civil rights leaders and various elected officials and community leaders to discuss how to respond to the challenge presented by Ferguson.

"Too many individuals, particularly young people of colour, do not feels as if they are being treated fairly," Obama said.

Obama will create a task force on 21st century policing to be chaired by Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey and Laurie Robinson, a George Mason University professor who is a former assistant attorney general.

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