WASHINGTON  President Obama’s economic stimulus plan includes about $1 billion to help local governments hire more police officers, which would resurrect a Clinton administration program that had been largely shelved by President George W. Bush.

The so-called COPS Program, for Community Oriented Policing Services, aimed to add 100,000 police officers to local departments in eight years. Whether it met that goal is the subject of heated debate in law enforcement and public policy circles.

Mr. Bush, reflecting a Republican philosophical objection to having the federal government pay for local police salaries, all but eliminated the program.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said money to hire police officers was an appropriate part of the stimulus bill because it would aid the economy “as fast as, or faster than, other spending.”