PLAN HAS BILLIONS FOR POLICE

Money Would Resurrect Several Grants Cut By Bush White
House

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama wants the government back in the
policing business, big time.

Obama's huge stimulus plan includes about $4 billion to resurrect
grants that put tens of thousands of police on the streets during the
1990s. The programs were all but eliminated during the Bush
administration amid criticism that their results didn't justify the
hefty price tags.

The grants are popular with Democrats, and restoring them was central
to Obama's campaign plan to combat rising violence. By tacking the
money onto the stimulus plan, Obama avoids having to defend the
spending during the normal budget process.

The proposal allocates $3 billion for the Byrne Justice Assistance
Grant, a program that has funded drug task forces, after-school
programs, prisoner rehabilitation and other programs.

An additional $1 billion in stimulus money is set aside for the
Community Oriented Policing Services program begun under President
Bill Clinton. The program, known as COPS grants, paid the salaries of
many local police officers and was a "modest contributor" to the
decline in crime in the 1990s, according to a 2005 government
oversight report.

President George W. Bush slashed both grant programs over the past
eight years, citing a series of reports questioning their efficiency
and oversight.

But the programs remain popular among many lawmakers, who often used
the grants to steer money to their home districts. Mayors and police
chiefs love them, particularly during lean economic times.

The version of the stimulus bill that makes it out of the Senate is
expected to be different from the one that the House passed.

But because Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric
Holder strongly support the grants - and Democrats control Congress -
the programs will probably be resurrected even if they don't make it
into the final stimulus bill.

The Associated Press.