THE POLICE

Officers Hope Cloud Over Force Will Lift

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For almost two months, New York City police officers have
found themselves the target of constant criticism: protesters calling them
murderers, suspects mumbling caustic remarks and headlines raising
questions about both their aggressiveness and training.

So for some officers, a report that a Bronx grand jury had indicted
four street crimes officers in the murder of Amadou Diallo not only
came as little surprise but also gave them hope that the shadow cast
over the entire police force might soon go away.

"At least it's going to take some of the motivation away for the
circus going on in front of Police Headquarters," said one officer,
a

30-year-veteran, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the daily
protests over the Diallo killing.

"Many people think these guys were indicted for doing their jobs, so
you'd have to be a moron for that sort of thing not to affect you."

Many officers who were questioned Friday about their reaction to the
reported indictments described how a difficult job had been made even
tougher by the Diallo case. They have had to deal with suspicious
stares from people on the beat or back talk from suspects about the
Diallo killing. One young officer in Harlem recounted his most recent
difficulty clearing a street corner on Wednesday.

"They just stood there at first and looked at me," said the officer,
who would only give his first name, Joel. "Then one of them said
something about 41 shots, and the other responded, 'yeah, I guess we
should move, you know how trigger-happy they are.' "

"You take it in and try not to let it affect you," the officer, a
15-year veteran, said. "But it still hurts, and you wonder when its
going to end."

The officer said he supported the reported murder indictment by the
Bronx grand jury. He said that while other officers disagreed with his
views on the case, nearly all had similar complaints about what the
killing had wrought on their department.

"As you ride through the streets, you can actually see people look at
you funny," Officer Damian Gilsenan, 29, said Thursday during a
counter-demonstration to support the four officers at police
headquarters. "You know they're wondering, 'Are these guys going to
shoot me 41 times.' "

The sagging morale in the 40,000-member department has become so
palpable that Police Commissioner Howard Safir opened his speech at
the department's promotion ceremony yesterday by comparing his

officers to the rugged soldiers who took Iwo Jima during World War
II.

"Uncommon valor" is "really what this Police Department is all about,"
he explained, adding, "If you read the papers over the last few
months, you would think differently."

Commissioner Safir then urged the officers to maintain their dignity
and understand that most people appreciate their efforts in quelling
crime. People in Harlem and Bushwick "want more cops, they know how
hard your job is, as well as I do," he said.

That job has become more difficult as the crime rate has gone down,
said James Savage, interim president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent
Association. He said pressure on officers to continue making arrests
and to focus on quality-of-life crimes had demoralized them and helped
to irritate much of the population.

Other officers said the pressure to make arrests and take contraband
and guns off the streets had also raised the probability of shootings.

"These guys were looking for a criminal, they were on edge and they
were alert for danger," said one 49-year-old officer, speaking on the
condition of anonymity. "They were doing, from a Police Department
view, the right things when this shooting occurred."

Patrick Lynch, a P.B.A. delegate from the 90th Precinct in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said that some officers were now questioning
whether to pursue their jobs vigorously. "It has put a second guess in
the minds of officers; it is making them question their obligation,"
he added.

No one -- not Commissioner Safir, a former Federal narcotics officer,
nor the citizens of New York City -- really understands the
difficulties that police officers routinely face on the streets, many
officers said.

And among beat cops, there remains a certain empathy for the four
officers -- Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss, Edward McMellon and Richard
Murphy -- involved in Diallo's shooting. It is not that all of them
agree with the amount of force the officers used that February night
- -- 41 shots -- but most say they fear what they themselves might have
done in similar circumstances.

"I know what it's like because I've been there," said one 33-year-old
transit officer in a deli in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn,
adding that he had been shot by a suspect a few years before. "So I
think it's wrong to call these guys killers for what was probably just
bad communication that ended in tragedy."