>> this, is what we do. >> al jazeera america. other america tonight, live coverage from missouri as tensions rise. our personal coverage from the scene of the killing of an unarmed young black man, gunned down by the police. now a community rises up. an "america tonight" special, flash point, ferguson.

good evening, i am joie chen reporting at the hour from missouri for this "america tonight" special report, flash point ferguson. we have come to missouri specifically for that reason, because this community, this whole area, the eastern part of missouri has, indeed, become a flash point for conversations this week about race, about the use of police force, and about the ability of a community to rise up and speak for itself. it began with the death last weekend of an unarmed young 18-year-old man michael brown, and anger that emerged in the community because a police officer used his gun. we have continuing coverage here, we have gone to the command center of the current event of the local law enforce the, the county police and the state highway patrol. as you can see they have gathered here and been at work in this location for hours organizing themselves, being prepared for at any time, any possibility of renewed

confrontation to his breakout. but so far that has not been the case. there are protests underway at this hour and they have been decidedly quite nonviolent. there have been no clashes reported so far. protests began with a march from st. louis' very popular, well-known gateway or. the gateway to the west, in fact. through the streets. where the young 18-year-old michael brown died last saturd saturday. and to the plays where the clashes and con fran takes have taken place, confrontations that were so fierce that early in this day president obama interrupted had i vacation at martha's vineyard to come out and talk about the case and to talk about the clashes to urge police caution against excessive force being used and to urge the police to be open and transparent as they continue their investigations. as well we note other developments of the day, the missouri governor jay nixon,

visited forgue son and made his first comments about this situation. he said today that the state highway patrol would take over the security in this area to try to prevent a repeat of the clashes that have taken place over these last few days. we have also seen these officers out in force, both here gathered at the command center and as we have noted these have been very orderly protests through this evening. and they are being echoed with other nonviolent protests in cities all across the country. we also note that the aclu, the american civil liberties union has filed a suit to force the police department at ferguson to disclose the name of the officer whose gunshot and killed young michael brown. joining us at this hour is mr. pruitt. he is the chairman of the st. louis naacp and also works with the state naacp. and i wanted to ask you. i understand that you have been in touch, constant touch with michael brown's parents, even masaslate as today.

what do you think about the developments and their concerns at this point? >> you know, they have had a chance to meet with the folks from the justice department in d.c. had a chance to meet the u.s. attorney here locally. and a lot of folks who have to deal with this situation. and i think that they feel very confident and comfortable that the federal government is moving in the right direction as it relates to trying to determine what went wrong and who to hold responsible. and they also had a brief conversation, i know, with the -- with eric holder. >> the attorney general of the united states, they spoke to him directly? >> you yeah, i think he gave them some condolences directly. i don't know the content of the conversation, but i can imagine what he would have told somebody at this time of need. and so i think they feel very comfortable right now. they are still grieving, they are still going through what any parent would go through at this points in time. but more than anything, they want to see some justice done as relates to michael brown.

>> now, you, i understand, through the naacp. have also been in contact with witnesses, indeed additional witnesses have come forward? >> oh, yes. what our primary focus is now is to use our connections within the community, identifying and providing sank ware and i a means for those folks who really wants to do the right thing to get involved to do that. so they have been coming to us, we have been having -- been able to help coordinate getting them in front of the federal authorities and the state authorities. so that they can tell their stories. they are fearful but they are coming forward and we are happy that they are. and we will hope that those other ones will continue to do the same. >> now, you know, it's kind of a puzzle because after all these people have an opportunity to go to the police themselves. if they believe that they have witnessed something that would be important, why haven't they done that directly? >> well, the fact that -- >> or were they itch asked? >> even asked? >> i think to some degree a lot

of them coming after after dorian johnson did step out. they felt if he could do it, they could do it. a lot of them telling us that -- a lot of them are just fearful. nobody wants their lives upheavalled, or turned over simply because they are trying to do the right thing and they understand as witnesses of such a heinous crime there that there may be some people that disagree with the position they are taking and it puts them in harm's way or makes their lives an open book but they are coming forward doing the right thing and we are extremely happen by it. >> the protests underway this hour, we have mentioned there are hundreds of people going out in the street. they started at the st. louis arch and have moved through these other important areas in this particular case. this has been different than the last few days. what has made the difference? >> well, i think two things it, i don't want to take nothing way from the governor, but at 10:00 this morning we pled with the chief, us and the community affairs department with the justice department and we were

able to sit down and give them a formula that we think works and that is to provide a means for them to protest. give them the space to do it. come up with a plan for marches. come up with a plan to a allow them to do anything. and more than anything, become law enforcement for the protesters. protect their rights to protest. and you'll find that you have some allies behind those lines versus e enemies and it's startg to happen and take place and, we think things will stay calm going forward at least we hope they do. >> certainly that is a hope for many at this hour, thank you so much, a doll fuss pruitt. thank you for being here from the local naacp. >> thank you. as we have noted there have been clashes and a great deal of concern about what will happen tonight. and going indeed in to the weekend, which will mark the one-week anniversary of michael brown's death. there have been a number of protests over the last few days and they have, indeed, turns quite violent.

quite significant clashes between the local protesters and law enforcement who had been out as you see in the pictures taken over the laugh ca couple of nig, this is from last night as well. the local law enforce. enforcement using both tear gas canisters and we are told rubber bullets as well, using assault rival rifles in te streets and getting attention and a great deal of concern. this whole case has been already about race, about confrontation with his law enforcement, as well as a community is concerned about being able to talk to the -- directly and to speak their minds, to talk to organizations and to be able to speak their concerns about what has been happening in the community. over the last day, al jazerra's fault lines correspondent sebastian walker has been watching closely as developments have taken place here in this community and he joins us here

now. what have you seen last night? >> the flash points last night was one of the most intense we have seen taken over the last few days, i have rarely seen crowned control handled so ineffectively and poor limb the protests were peaceful, the police wanted the crowd to disburse they were exercising their right to peacefully assemble. so they didn't want to go away. when they stayed their ground being armored personnel carriers, military-style police wearing helmets, carrying high-powered rifles requesting quickly came onto the scene lined up across the street and told the drought disperse, it wasn't long for until tensions were rising this community was all upset by what had taken place and that move made the crowd extremely angry it wasn't lodge after that where there was tear good and rubber bullets and flash bangs it was some of the most intense police crack down

activity that i have witnessed in these kinds of protests, we have covered these kinds of events and interi internationals well. >> it looked quite a bit like that. complication that his we have seen in the world where it's usually a military force against civilians. >> absolutely. this -- the center of ferguson, that main street where the protesters were gathering, it was just completely turned in to something that looked like a war zone, there was tear gas everywhere. the police were actually firing tear gas canisters down the side streets in to the communities, it seemed almost indiscriminate. this was a crowd that had been, you know, containing women and children and families. people had been out peacefully protesting. this community is extremely angry about what has taken place and actions like that have only raised tensions even further. >> were there warnings given before the tear gas canisters came out before the shots were fired? >> the police told people that they wanted the crowd to disperse and the crowd told police they didn't want do disperse, they said they remember staying their ground and were angry and wanted to make their point and they were

peacefully assembling. i think the key here was there was no violence that we witnessed of any kind before those military-style police were deployed. we didn't see anybody throwing any projectiles. >> did the crowd threaten the police? did the crowd shout anything at the police in advance of this? >> every now and then the police would ask the crowd to move backwards and the crowd would obey that order. and it was a very intimidating line of police. there were armored personnel carriers. these are m-raps that are used in iraq and afghanistan. it was an intimidating sight for all of the demonstrateers. >> from al jazerra's fault lines program, sebastian walker has been with us. as well, we want to note that later in this program, we are going to hear from sebastian again, he has done some reporting about the mill ter saying of law en force around this country and talk with us specifically in that report about what he has seen, not only in this community, but throughout the nation different law enforcement officers, different law enforcement units, and how they handle their relationships with the communi

community. on another subject, there has been a lot of concern expressed in the ferguson area, about the ferguson police department's resistence to reporting the specific name of the officer directly involved in michael brown's shooting. there of course were reports that there was some sort of confrontation between the police officer and michael brown. but joining us now, we are going to talk with "america tonight's" lori jane who has observed some of the social immediate exchange that have put a lot of pressure on the ferguson department to release this name. >> yeah, joie, the group anonymous has been known to get involved in situations like this, specially in small towns, especially in situations in which police are not giving information freely or very quickly. what we have had happen here is a big push for the name of the officer that pulled the trigg never this case. and also push for people to be able to protest freely without the police department's involvement.

computer hackers and activists have pushed this situation in to the spotlight and also done their best to hold authority accountable. >> greetings, world, we are anonymous. >> a day after the death of michael brown the hacking collective known as anonymous released this video launching what it calls operation ferguson. the video urges local residents to protest brown's killing promising retaliation if police interfered. >> if you are abused, harassed or harmed in any way the protesters in ferguson we will take every web based asset your department and government off line, that is not a threat, it is a promise. attacking the protesters will result in the release of percentage information on every single member of the ferguson police department. >> anonymous is a self-described leaderless network of activists and hackers. they often come together to protest what they see as violations of civil and human rights. videos featuring computer of

generated voices, threats of hacking and masked characters have become their trie trademar. >> we are legion, we do not forget. >> in its videos for operation ferguson the group is making an unusual demands. calling for federal regulation of police conduct. >> anonymous demands that the congressional representatives and senators from missouri introduce legislation entitled mike brown's how that will set strict national standards for police conduct and misbehavior in the usa. >> this past week hackers thought to be affiliated with anonymous have launched several attacks. on sunday the city of ferguson's website was brought down, on tuesday the home address and phone number of st. louis county police chief john belmar was posted on line, an e-mail bomb was also dropped, overloading city email account on wednesday police dispatch tapes said to be from the day of the shooting were released. >> ferguson is asking do assistance with crowd control. we have a large group bath

gathering there. we just got another call state that go there was an officer-involved shooting. [speaking at the same time] >> anonymous and the fact that they say they are going to release, pictures, names, addresses, how do you respond to that threat? >> anonymous has been doing that threat t hasn't been accurate information, but they have been putting it out as accurate information, all we can do is counter it when we see it. >> then today's tweet was claiming to name the officer that shot brown. the police took to twitter saying the wrong man had been identified and calling on those responsible for the posting to stop. ferguson police chief thomas jackson at today's press conference. >> we are going to have a conversation about the release of the name. but i guess it's anonymous put out a name this morning, brian something that's not -- that's not the name. i haven't seen anything else. >> are these guys just running name after name after name after name? >> i than that's probably what they are doing. they are taking the name of everybody and throwing it out there. >> twitter has since taken down

the account, which posted the name. >> and so that's the difference with anonymous is there is no organization. immediately after that original tweet came out, showing that this name had been released a different twitter account affiliated with a different anonymous account denied any involvement in releasing that name. anonymous isn't organized, floss leader. anybody can affiliate themselves with this. in reality always theres no real way to vet what information is coming out. >> very difficult to observe. now, anonymous, or some part of anonymous or at least someone declaring to be anonymous is still making itself heard and making an impact on the police department. >> jerk the st. louis county police department confirmed for me that last night their web system county wide went down, their email system was not working and even today they planned to sends out an e-mail to people thanking them and telling them about the state police getting involved and they said they couldn't sends out that e-mail because it wasn't working on. so they are not sure if it's anonymous, they are investigate that go, but definitely people have felt the effects. >> all right.

"american tonight's" lori jane here. as lori jane noticed certainly a lot of potential focused on this particular case here in this area, but also through digital media all across the world we have seen the impact of it. joining us now from our d.c. studio is al jazerra's "the stream" host lisa fletcher who, of course, is very plugged in to the social media community. lease, this is a community that has risen up to speak itself on what's been happening at ferguson. >> no doubt that it has, social media lit up with images and reactions appearing on facebook and twitter faster than it was really humanly possible to absorb it all. ferguson has been mentioned in 6 million tweets since saturday. and what the world has witness odd line has left people shocked and wondering what's next for ferguson. [ beep ] >> we were standing peace of the i and shouting a chant and the

police officer said it was no longer peaceful. and started to shoot tear gas. >> ever since saturday when mike brown, an unarmed black teen i r was shot by a white officer, social media has sizzled. residents feverishly documenting the nightly clashes with police. but wednesday night was different. >> here comes the st. louis county police department continue to go advance their line. we have now pulled back a city block and a half. [ been shots ] >> there it goes, they are now firing onto the crowd. ouch. [ beep ] >> they are firing rubber bullets. >> the images flatted twitter, vine and instagram. 10s of thousands tuned in to live streams from the streets. >> they are attacking reporters. they are attacking civilians. they are firing upon the media.

they are continuing to advance down the street. >> online, people were horrified, mesmerized. and furious. this wasn't gaza or iraq or he just a minute, thioriejust a mib of missouri. >> stop videotaping or else grab our stuff to go. >> i have a right to videotape. >> you hurry up, let's go. >> and tweeted the moment that he was released. >> the video of an al jazerra america team running from a tear gas cloud was viewed 30,000 times within hours. it's very close to their car, very close to their equipment. they were about to do a live shot just like we were, we were seth up in that exact same neighborhood. but even as camera crews fled to safety. phones stayed on. slogans spread quickly. don't shoot and hands up. like in this photograph of howard university students.

later in the evening antonio french a local politician and one of the most prolific chroniclers of the protest was arrested. an online campaign sprung up to free him within hours and trended across the country. pictures of the aftermath began to spread. as the night calmed people wondered what would have happened if social media hadn't been there. >> we are going to continue to bring this to you live from ferguson, missouri. >> and today no doubt ferguson has been the national story as joie mentioned earlier with the president break ago way from his vacation in martha's vineyard to address the situation. and that might not have happened if hundreds of thousands of people hadn't seen these harrowing images on video and online. joie. all right, lisa fletcher joining us from our program "the stream." thanks very much for being with out this special edition of

"america tonight clem. also we want to know that not only are people speaking out through digital media but we can hear them here as well on the ground very close to where the situation took place in ferguson, missouri. maybe in the background you can hear it too. we have heard the horns honking through the community as we have noted. there is a protest underway throughout this evening. a very nonviolent protest to this point. but we are hearing those horns that are to indicate the support that they have for the community and a continuing investigation in to the death of michael brown. we are seeing here now the command center where the local police, both the county police as well as the state highway patrol have taken up. they are ready for any eventuality. so far, though, we note that things have remained very nonviolent. throw we do hear the horns in the distance. when we return to this special edition of "american tonight clem. flash point ferguson, we are going to look back and try to understand the events of this week, they have come very

quickly. we are going it look through and find out what happened, why it did and what brought us to this point in ferguson, missouri. please stay tuned.

welcome back and thank phoning us for this special "american tonight" flash point ferguson, this community has become a flash point of interest and concern about law enforcement, about race relations and about a community's ability to speak up for itself. joining us here on the scene is state representative for the state of missouri, michael butler who has worked, you do not represent this particular community, you do work in st. louis itself. but you are working with the young people here. and they are putting out messages as we saw in our last report. they are putting out a lot of messages through social media trying to express themselves here. >> yes. yes. so the state representative for this area, my colleague is a young elected official. he's under 35 years old. his name is representative courtney curtis. him and myself and other young leaders elected clergy, faith, community leaders are just

getting the voice of the youth here, what we have done in the past few days is come with the iphone and say what's your reaction, what's your demands to the police and give us a #don'tshoot. what is one thing that's personalizes to you about don't shoot. >> what are they saying to you? >> what they are saying is that the police are the aggressors. the irony of it is that the -- mike brown was walking down the street and he was approach the by a police officer and they used heavy-handed tactics to then kill him. the irony is these young people are marching and walking down the streets and you have police officers that are meeting them with heavy-handed tactics and they are afraid for their life. the police reaction to this has been nothing better and they are proving their colleague's guiltiness. they are proving that they are not prepared to take care of this community. >> when talk about fear within the community, concern, that there is no way to be treated fairly. you yourself, i have to notice, are a young man, a black man, working, living in a nearby community, part of this

community as well. do you understand that fear in a very personal way? >> yes. and i understand it in a way that if i were to commit taye crime, if acrime. if i had a gun, if i had fired my weapon. if i had fired it upon a 17 or 18-year-old and killed them, no matter if it was an accident or not, i would be sitting in a cell right now. that's what the voice of these youth are feeling. they are saying treat this officer and this murderer the same way that you would treat us. you would treat that person guilty before incidents. they would be in handcuffs before you gave them paid administrative leave. they are given this police officer a head started to get out of the country on government tax dollars display not fair. they would not do the same for myself or these other youth. >> i have to note that there is a police investigation underway, although the officer's name has not been released. it is said that they has been relieved of his active street duty but still with the deem. now, that investigation aside, in the broader question about what this community needs to

bring itself right and to bring itself unity given the circumstances of these last few days, which after all have aroused attention all over the world. what needs to happen there? what is a constructive way to move forward for the community? >> this community and the government and this community and the media needs to listen to the youth. and listen to the voices that are working that are affected by this more than anything. what they need to do is to spend less money on toys and huge riot gear and spends it on community involvement. we have spent it on -- with home slant security, millions of dollars on these big toys, they need to put had that money back in the community to help get community programs. you can't force crime, you have to massage it and learn the community and then you can better take care of it. >> but is there reason to fear young black men walking in the streets? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. there is no reason to fear young black men in any attire with nip

educational backgrounds walking the street. >> michael brown state representative here in missouri. appreciate you being with us and the work that you are doing with young people in the area. >> thank you. we really do want to understand and unravel the events of the last week. there have been many and they have come quite quickly. we take a look back now a at the events that began with the death of young michael brown. it was last saturday afternoon, 18-year-old michael brown was walking down a street with a friends when he got in to an altercation with a local police officer. there are conflicting reports about what happened. but in the end, an unarmed black teenager was fatality shot and an officer was involved. brown's family and eyewitnesses are denying that there was a physical confrontation and that the young man attempted to grab the officers gun. >> he started to tell the officer that he was unarmed and that you should stop shooting me before he can get his second

sentence out, the officer fired several more shots in to his head and chest area. [ chanting no justice ] >> community anger over brown's death and long-standing racial tensions and frustrations spilled on to the streets the next day. hundreds march today police head quarters demanding officers. they held their hands up as brown reportedly did. and chanted don't shoot. [ chanting ] >> that night protests turned destructive. there was looting, at least one business was set on fire. by monday concern over brown's shooting death was mounting. as peaceful protests continued throughout the morning. >> i want to assure you that this is a very complicated investigation as it should be. a man lost his life, there is a police officer involved in this. and we need to make sure that this investigation is done right. >> the fbi announced that it was opening a parallel investigation to the one being done by st. louis county police over

allegations of civil rights abuses. and brown's parents spoke out in their first president conference. >> that's my first born son. anybody that know me knew i. [ inaudible ] my son. i just wish i could have been there to help him. >> he's a good boy. he didn't deserve none of that. none of it. we need justice for our son. >> they asked protesters to remain peaceful. but as night fell, police launched a harsh crack down. heavily armored vehicles and riot police used tear gas to disperse the crowds. looters took advantage of the unrest. on tuesday, officials announced that they would not release the name of the officer involved in the shooting after initially vowing to reveal his identity. that angered protesters further.

[ inaudible ] >> are outraged is when you keep pushing people down. [ inaudible ] >> prominent civil rights activist, the referent al sharpton joined the demonstrations. and on this day the crack down extended to the sky. a no-fly zone was issued 3,000 feet over ferguson. and the president, from his vacation on martha's vineyard issued a statement urging the people of ferguson to, remember this young man through reflection and understanding. that night more protests and the police crack down continued. there was another officer-involved shooting. one man who had a shotgun was critically wounded. the next day after three straight nights of violent protests, the ferguson police chief faced tough questions. the justice department announced the opening of another

investigation. and again at night, the protesters faced off with county police. this time two journalists were arrested. and our own al jazerra crew was tear gassed. police were seen to be attacking peaceful protesters. this day brought stepped-up national attention. the president spoke out. >> let's remember that we are all part of one american family. we are united in common values. and that includes belief in equality under the law. a basic respect for public order. and the right to peaceful public protest. >> quite

and welcome back. i am joanie chen. in missouri right outside of

st. louis we turn now again to flash point ferguson. here in this area, there has been, of course, a great deal of concern developed over the last few days because of protests and protesters in their encounters with law enforcement. at this at this hour we are at a command certainty where local police, state highway patrol have come together to make sure whatever developments there are through the course of the night will be handled in an orderly fashion, that has not been the case over the last knew nights where the clashes have been fierce, cuber bullets, wooden bullets as well as tear gas canisters have been used in the attempt to quell protest demonstration that his have taken place through this community. it's not just here. we look now to other communities to the connection between law enforcement and militarization

in those areas. >> in the u.s. today there are now 10s of thousands of military-style police raids every year. but only the worst cases make the news. we have come to investigate one that took place in a rural town just north of los angeles. >> scared me so bad because they were just so military and huge guns and full gear like huge, they were like puffed out like huge vests. they looked military to me. like they were going in to a war. >> early in the morning, on june 27th, armed police from across l.a. county converged on the property of eugene mallary and his wife tonya pate. their warrant said there property was being used for is a meth lab. the entire search warrant was the investigating officer said in spots down winds of the location he was able with certainty to smell chemicals. >> this is where i was. i was inside here. and the cop car was right here. >> tonya was in a trailer on the

property and her son adrian was asleep in another trailer when she heard the police. >> and it scared me so bad that i said adrian come out. and that's when that guy told her, contain her, so she shoved me in to the car and then put the handcuffs on really, really tight and pushed me in to the car and i said, that my son is in there. >> a thorough search of the property turned up no sign of meth. despite her pleas, the police wouldn't tell tonight i can't what they were looking for. every time i would ask she would say my detective will be here to talk to you. you just need to shut up. i am protecting me officers. i said from what? you said you are the one with all the guns. >> con ton i can'connauton i cao the place station but leased it was only on her return that she began to realize what had happened. during the raid, the armed officers entered the house where

tonya's 80-year-old husband was sleeping. gones drawn, six sheriff deputies made their way towards his bedroom. >> i came back to the house it and it was horrible, there was blood all over that bed. it was thick and it was running down the walkway and there was a lot of it. and i was just like oh, my god. >> eugene had been shot six times. five of those shots were fatal wounds to the chest. >> the bedding was saturated, pillows were full of blood. blood ran all the way down that side. i guess he laid over there and bled to death and died. >> eugene kept two guns next to his bed and nba latched boxes. the initial police report says the officer the confronted by an armed suspect. so one of the guns was potentially in this?

>> yeah, but dents have enough time. >> their story was he was edges sitting and leveled the gun at the officers and the report says that he was killed outside the bedroom as he was coming out to confront them. >> i have blood inside the room. and like i said if he was walking this way or right there, there is no blood in this pathway nor on this rug. >> ♪ ♪ >> both eugene's body and his gun were moved before investigators reached the scene. >> where the body dropped, where the gun is, why would you move any of these things? okay, you say he shot at you, everything he should be dropped where he's at, his gun should be in his hands, why is everything moved? i don't believe gene's gun was in his hands, that's why it was moved. i don't believe gene was where you said, that's why he was moved. >> during the raid, the police found canopies on the property, and tonya's son adrian who holds a medical marijuana license was

arrested. he's been charged with possession with intent to supply. a charge the family denies. now tonya is fighting to clear her family's name and get answers about eugene's death. >> this is him, so happy at his birthday party, 80 years old. he was good. >> he doesn't look like a dangerous man. >> anybody with authority, he was very respectful to them. and praised them for their job and, i mean, he would give them thumbs up, fire department, sheriff's department. pat them on the back. tell them what a great job, what would we do without you guys, you know. >> h♪ he just keeps rolling alo ♪ you and me with sweat and strain ♪ >> old man river is what he's singing. >> yes. his clothes and his shoes, they smell like him still in the bedroom and i don't want to move them.

and i know you just keep taking thinks away and then they are gone. >> that must be -- >> i don't want him to be gone, sebastian. i don't want him to be gone. >> let's justify killing an 80-year-old man in his house for a little bit of marijuana. that's what this -- that's what their argument is, i guess. >> the larger picture, what would you say this says about the nature of the way that these raids are being carried out? >> it's not only in our department here, it's across the country. we have seen an increased militarization of police departments. these are like seal team 6 coming in to your percentage residents, floss legitimate reason for the way they carried this out. >> from "faultlines" sebastian walker rejoins us here as we continue our coverage of flash point ferguson. know, seb when we look at the situation that you have seen over the last day, struck by the fact the attorney general came out himself as critical of the

over militarization of law enforce. , anenforcement and yet, where o those supplies come from. >> a lot of the impetus for those scenes is the fact that the police have this hardware, the military-styled vehicles high-powered weapons and all of this military gear. a lot of it comes from the federal government. there have been federal grants and program that his certainly off-load military used by the army in all of these conflict zones around the world and it's arriving now in police departments across the country. some of these police departments have answers that are not real will trained enough to use equipment like that. that's very high-powered weaponry. it's something that stands for mine resistance protection vehicle, that's something that basically soldiers right around in to make sure that they are not injured if a mine explodes beneath them it's hardly the kind of thing that you expect to be deployed in a community like ferguson, that's happening increasingly, there is estimated to be around 500 of those vehicles that that have now

flooded in to police departments across the united states. that have actually come from places like iraq and afghanistan being used in battle. it's happening more increasingly not just ferguson, other cities across the country too. it's definitely a problem. while a attorney holder is speak big this and complaining about the action the police are taking a lot of impetus comes directly from government. >> a very interesting report and you can see more of what sebastian learned as he reported the story arming america's police, that's comping up this saturday night on al jazerra america, the "faultlines" program, saturday, 7:00 p.m. eastern, we hope you join us for that. one of the key figures in our understanding of law enforcement, of criminal justice, on our "america tonight" program is our friends tom morris, investigative crime reporter who joins us from our washington set this hour.

and, tom, you know, we are really struck by what sebastian walker reported on the "faultlines" program as women. this sort of weaponry. when we talk about the tear gas canisters that were used. these are things that wouldn't even be allowed in the geneva convention in warfare. >> this is where it's come to. police departments are heavily armed now and the proliferation of these weapons has been an economic boone for a lot of police departments. a swat team actually can generate money for a police department. you have these highly-trained officerofficers who are trainint of the time. but when they are not training, then what do they do? they go out and do warrants searches. we have 50,000 swat raids a year in america. and most of them are for people who are wanted on minor warrants, drug warrants, et cetera, and they are not in the most effluent neighborhoods, this is not happening in bethesda or beverly hills, this happens in the inner-city, black and hispanic neighborhoods predominantly and poor

neighborhoods. >> and so, tom, when departments receive this sort of support, when they receive this kind of equipment, the inclination then has to be to use it for something. >> it's able -- they generate money because the asset forfeitures from the drug raids, swat teams go out and seize property in drug raids and generates money for injuries defenses. there is an economy around swat and they recruit police to the department. if you watch it on google or youtube, they use the swat images of officer battering in to homes, jumping off vehicles, heavily armed they use these in recruitment videos and it's attractive for guys that want to be police officers just like navy seals, et cetera, to try a to attract young men to join the military on the thought that perhaps if i am good enough i can make it in to this elite unit. and swat is the same thing for

local police departments. i have seen police departments that he went to 20 years ago that had nothing and i have gone back in the last five or 10 years and looked at all of the equipment that they had and couldn't believe it. i was like, where did you get all of this? they said 9/11. >> tom morris vim yale investigative reporter joining us once again with his insight helping us to understand law enforcement, not just here but across the country as well. appreciate that, tom. there was the confront indication that wconfrontation w hours and that was the one that came last night as we saw tear gas canisters being thrown in the streets, reports as well of rubber bullets and in face-offs with journalists who were reporting from the scene. one of them was al jazerra's usher whwhowas in the line of fu

see in the video as a tear gas canister went off. this is an incredible disturbing image that he spender and at this hour he is back on the streets following up as a protest, a round one is underway. ash-har. >> that's right, joie being it's a decidedly different tone here in ferguson. this is the site of where most of the unrest has been taking place over the last few nights, some of the worst rioting and looting that we saw over the weekend after the fatal shooting of michael brown here. and today we are seeing a large crowd. there has been a steady stream of vehicles driving through this area. that's been something that's been restricted over the last few days, the crowd here is loud. it is boisterous, but it has been peaceful up until this point. we have seen children here, infants in strollers, i saw a young man earlier passing out water bottles to strangers. it's a different tone right now. what we are not seeing tonight is a large contingency of police officers as we have been

reporting. the missouri highway patrol has taken over security for this area, but we have not seen those tactical units. heavy-armored vehicles the high-powered rifles standing affront of the areas keeping abreast of what's going on tonight. we determiner see a number of police weeks come in, suvs after a woman fell in the crowd, they came in to the area it looked like it might get ilgi for a moment as the crowds descended on the officers but even people in the crowd pushed people back and those vehicles were able to retreat. so nothing has happened so far yet. but it's still early in the everything, joie. >> al jazerra's ash-har reporting from the streets of ferguson whereas you hear a very loud protest is underway, but so far a very nonviolent one. as we heard from ash-har, thanks very much. we are going to return to our special report "mesh tonight's" look at flash point ferguson after a break. please stay with us.

coming september only on al jazeera america

welcome back to sour special edition the "america tonight." flash point ferguson. well get back to joie in just a moment. law enforcement officers are prepared to make polight-second decisions every day. more than 3500 police departments across america use recording devices that track

both officers and the people in situations that they are dealing with. every thing from dash cam to his cameras actually worn by the officers. ferguson's p.d. has some but says they don't have the money to install them. techno correct tour and former cia agent lindsay moran got a first hand look on how the body cams work on a ride along in oakland, california and it wasn't long before they juan in to trouble. >> officer brian hernandez was one of several units responds to go a call about a suspect in east oakland, wanted in a robbery. and attempted murder. but our cameras aren' cameras wy ones catching the action, each officer wore one of these recording the action.

>> sit back. >> i can't talk to my son? >> hold on. give as a second and then we'll let you talk to him. >> what's the cameras for? >> that's something together totally unrelated. >> oakland is one of 3500 police departments nationwide using body cameras taking place of the dashboard cameras because they go where the officer goes. >> people discarding arms, making incriminating statements, that would have been the officer's word against their word and the lapel camera makes it evident. >> our policy is if you are investigationing a crime, or an encounter with somebody in detention we are supposed to activate it. >> how did it affect your job? >> at first it's uncomfortable to have everything recorded but to have everything back up our word it's great. hey, how are you doing, man? >> do you have a driver's license and registration?

>> my license is suspended. >> your license is suspended. >> okay. >> what happens to the video after it's recorded by the lapel camera? >> at the end of the officer's shift, he or she plugs it in to a terminal and the video is then up loaded onto a network server the officers can't delete it or anything along those lines. >> al jazerra techno correspondent joins you now via describe. what exactly did you see on your ride along? >> well, i saw first hand how these lapel cameras actually offer a layer of protection for both the police officer and the person interacting with that officer. that is, the camera doesn't lie. so unlike a witness or potentially a police officer, everything that happens is recorded and interestingly, the aclu has actually come out in favor of these body cameras, even though there is that issue of privacy, the their feeling is that it's better to have some video footage than none at all. that that is a better assurance

of protecting people's civil liberties when dealing with the cops. >> so it's hopefully deterring incidents and making everyone more accountable, getting rid of a little bit of bad behavior along the way. >> well, it's like everybody is on their best behavior when the camera is on. >> exactly. >> according to a controlled study done in a city of california, every since officers started wearing the body cameras in this police sphere, use of force complaints have dropped by 31st and field complains have dropped by almost 90%. >> you said that the aclu was supporting it, so i am assuming ithey don't have a privacy concern here? >> there is that prove at this concern, but as i said the feeling is it's better to have some video than none at all. in fact, the oakland p.d. where i did a ride along and talked to the police officers there who have been using body cameras since 2011, one of the reasons that they have started using them was for situations just

like ferguson. >> all right. [speaking at the same time] >> of exactly what the interaction is between police officers and anyone that they interact with whether it's an arrest or routine traffic stop. >> all right, lindsey moran techknow respondent, thanks for joining us. got a tech note. thursday on the stream i'll have special coverage flash point ferguson we'll explore how this community moved forward and you'll hear first hand accounts of residents of ferguson. we are going to return to joie in ferguson right after the break, stick around remembe.

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protests continue in ferguson, as president obama preaches calm. could major challenges in police plan quell tensions. signs hamas may make didn't concessions in peace talks. i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this", those stories and more straight ahead. >> escalating tensions unleashed teenager. >> police throwing stun grenades. journalists haveee