BEING A COP IN COLOMBIA LOOKS LIKE A SUICIDE JOB

PASCA, Colombia - Standing behind a wall of sandbags amid the rubble
of a blown-up police station, officer Jose Borney Trujillo nervously
surveys the forested mountains where leftist rebels roam virtually
unimpeded.

Word has come to this tiny police outpost that Colombia's biggest
rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, now
executes policemen captured after attacks.

During the first half of this year alone, rebels killed 120 police,
many in overwhelming attacks on remote outposts manned by only a few
officers.

The dozen police in Pasca, a two-hour drive southwest of the capital,
Bogota, fear they will be next. They say that without reinforcements,
they'd be overrun and likely killed.

"We are aware that if the guerrillas come in here, they will kill us
all. We won't be able to surrender and ask for mercy," Borney said
Wednesday.

Whether reinforcements save them could depend on the interpretation of
an agreement that sent powerful U.S.-made combat helicopters to
Colombia. Washington donated the helicopters to fight rebels and
others who protect drug crops. But they are not supposed to be used in
normal combat in Colombia's 36-year guerrilla war.

The rebels have overrun Pasca three times - most recently in July
1994, when they killed a police sergeant and wounded a patrolman, then
dynamited the police station and jail.

"It is very dangerous here," said Borney, 25, as he unslung an assault
rifle from his shoulder and peered into the mist-shrouded mountains.
"We've been hearing more gunfire coming from over there in the last
few weeks. The rebels are letting us know they're around."

A trench has been dug in the rubble. A new police station now stands
next door. From there, the national police investigate common crimes.
But they are crippled by the hostile environment surrounding them.