NEW WAR TOUGH ON POLICE

Officers Pressed Into New Duties, Military

The recent terrorist attacks are placing an intense burden on police
departments across the country as officers juggle urgent new demands:
responding to hundreds of reports of spilled powder, bolstering security in
public places and even leaving their departments to serve in the military
Reserves.

The shifting demands may force already-understaffed departments to consider
jettisoning crime prevention tactics such as community policing, which have
been praised for contributing to the decade long drop in crime but require
considerable manpower.

And the burden on local law enforcement will only grow heavier if the FBI
proceeds with plans to shed traditional portfolios such as bank robbery and
drug trafficking so it can focus on fighting terrorism. As it is, the FBI
has essentially suspended all but the highest-priority investigations,
federal prosecutors say.

There are no statistics on how the war on terrorism has affected local
policing, but some city departments say they have already experienced
direct side effects. In Philadelphia, the police commissioner, John
Timoney, attributes some of September's 37 homicides to the decision to
move a number of narcotics detectives back to uniform street patrols in the
city center. More than half of the September killings were drug-related,
Timoney said. Under normal conditions, he said, he would have expected
about 25 homicides last month.

"The homicides that are most amenable to police prevention are drug-
related," he said, "because there will be a shooting followed by a
retaliatory shooting followed by another retaliatory shooting. So, to the
extent you can get in there and stop it quickly, you may prevent future
shootings of a retaliatory nature."

In Los Angeles, the police department has been overwhelmed by calls about
suspected anthrax powder, each taking several officers away from other
duties for hours at a time. The department received 44 such calls Tuesday,
and it handled 375 bomb threats and reports from Sept. 11 through Oct. 10.

Hardly any city has escaped major costs. Boston estimates it is spending
$100,000 a week on police overtime.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said there have
been additional costs for beefed-up security but that the department hasn't
determined how much.