Call it a crisis when the heroes of 9-11 are getting laid off. (Publisher's Column).

One observer of the nation's public safety recently noted, "You know it's a crisis when the heroes of 9-11 are being laid off."

Our local police are being squeezed from many directions. There are the state fiscal shortfalls and cutbacks. There's the sluggish economy that has pinched local revenues. Fiscal conditions have forced one in four cities to cut police positions or to expect cuts in the near future, according to a survey of 322 cities and towns by the National League of Cities earlier this year.

And there's the impact of local police being pressed to perform homeland security duties in addition to ongoing local public safety responsibilities. Another survey we conducted found that re-deploying public safety personnel or shifting funds for homeland security has made it harder to meet normal public safety responsibilities in one in four cities of all sizes and in more than half of cities of 100,000-plus in population.

The mobilization of National Guard and military reserve units reduced police in two-thirds of the nation's cities and towns, according to yet another NLC survey conducted in late February.

On top of that, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has pulled 674 agents away from their regular jobs working with local law enforcement since 9-11 so the FBI can focus more resources on fighting terrorism.

We applaud efforts to ferret out terrorists in the United States. But that effort should not come at the expense of protecting our citizens from violent crime, drugs and other threats that the FBI has traditionally combated shoulder-to-shoulder with our local police.

In a front-page article about this trend on June 30, The Wall Street Journal reported, "Police departments across the country must fill the void left by the reassigned FBI agents, investigating more bank robberies, violent crimes and other big cases. Inevitably, crimes will go unsolved because of the lack of manpower and less access to the FBI's high-tech forensic labs."

Against this backdrop, one would expect Congress and the Administration to eagerly step forward to fill the local law enforcement funding gap and aid the cities' ability to pay for critical services.

But, unfortunately, we are looking at net cuts to funding for local law enforcement.

In his fiscal year 2004 budget proposal, President Bush reduced funds for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) from $1.2 billion to $137 million. The budget also proposed consolidating the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant into a Justice Assistance Block Grant that would go to the states rather than directly to cities.

The U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State recently boosted local law enforcement funding $1.16 billion above the President's budget request--but still more than $100 million below 2003 funding levels. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up this bill in the days ahead.

So now is the time to remind your elected leaders in Washington that the nation's cities and towns need an effective federal partnership.

In March, during our Congressional City Conference, the nation's cities and towns pledged to protect hometown America on the frontlines in the nation's fight against domestic terrorism and to continue efforts to prevent crime and make communities safe and secure.

In return for that commitment, the nation's cities expect the federal government to provide sustained new funding for first responders and homeland security. And we expect full funding for effective public safety programs such as COPS and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants, which should continue as local block grants rather than state block grants.

Contact your members of Congress and the opinion pages of your local newspaper. Share with them your concerns about these specific programs. Share your stories about the importance of a continued, strong federal-local partnership for public safety.

For the sake of safety and quality of life, American cities and towns should not be forced to layoff the heroes of 9-11.