In its first budget, the Barack Obama government has proposed necessary funding to begin hiring 50,000 additional police officers.

"Supporting the hiring of police nationwide will help States and communities prevent the growth of crime during the economic downturn," the Office of Management and Budget said in the government's budget proposals for FY2010.

The additional funding to put 50,000 more police officers on the beat would be provided through expansion of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Grant, it added.

The total budget allocation for the Department of Justice, which oversees the COPS programme, has been proposed at 26.5 billion dollars. This would also include funding for national security and other crime fighting programmes of agencies like FBI.