By MARCOS ALEMAN Associated Press Writer Sep 25, 1997 16:46 EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico City's police chief came under fire Thursday for
his defense of surprise raids to combat rising crime, after suggesting a
curfew might be the next step if the police sweeps are halted.

Mere mention of a curfew sparked an uproar in this city where a crime
epidemic is the top public concern and the controversial raids have
targeted poor neighborhoods, leading to shootouts and arrests without
warrants.

``To say no to the (police raids) is tantamount to saying yes to unpunished
crime,'' Police Chief Enrique Salgado declared Wednesday, sharply
deefending his crimefighting tactics before local lawmakers.

He warned that if the raids are canceled, crime ``will continue to grow and
tomorrow we will not be talking about the need for (raids) but of the need
of curfews.''

The raids were instituted by Gen. Salgado, an army general, soon after he
was named police chief for this capital of 8.5 million and military men
substituted top officers of the 27,000member city police force.

An average of 560 crimes with firearms are committed daily, including five
or six homicides. But critics had said moving the officers into police work
two years ago raised questions about the military usurping civilian duties.

Salgado's tough talk reignited that debate Thursday and his comments were
the talk of radio, television and street conversations.

``To talk about curfew sounds to me like (military dictatorship),'' said
Marti Batres, a leftist lawmaker in the city legislature. ``If you do that
you are talking about desperate measures.''

Salgado defended his raids late Wednesday before that new capital
legislature, where Batre's leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party holds an
overwhelming majority since July 6 elections.

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, of Democratic Revolution, was also elected mayor of
the capital in the July vote after harnessing popular discontent with crime
and police corruption.

Critics complain that Salgado has overlooked basic steps need to fight
crime, namely better training and pay for police, who too often are caught
in cahoots with criminals.

To talk about curfews ``is very dangerous, because it would scare people
into thinking the city is ungovernable,'' Miguel Hernandez of the
conservative National Action Party commented.

The mass sweeps of neighborhoods, by flakjacketed offers toting heavy
arms, have led to frequent televised images of Mexicans being rousted from
homes or buses to be frisked and some led away.

On Thursday, police led one such raid on crimeriddled Tepito, a poor
downtown district. There was no shooting or violence, but police
confiscated tons of contraband goods and pirated video and sound cassettes
most of it from the United States.

Critics say police are indiscriminately breaking into homes and businesses,
and arresting people without warrants. Most suspects are later released for
lack of evidence.

But police contend the raids are a crime deterrent and have yielded drug
caches, illegal firearms and smuggled or stolen goods including auto parts,
designer clothes and liquors.

Officers and citizens have been killed in shootouts during some of the raids.

In early September, an angry crowd in the crimeridden Buenos Aires
district rallied outside a police station shouting ``Police, assassins!''
after three young men were found shot dead.

While authorities initially denied accusations that the men were executed
after being detained by police, human rights groups are investigating.

Authorities acknowledge that restoring public confidence in the nation's
security forces remain as much the challenge as combating the crime epidemic.

``The biggest concern of the citizenry is public insecurity,'' Attorney
General Jorge Madrazo told Congress recently. ``The governed feel helpless
in the face of crime and perceive that authorities cannot efficiently fight
it.''

(c) 1997, Associated Press