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FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is overhauling the FBI, forcing it to reorganize to fight terrorism. He has made counter-terrorism its top priority. Attorney General John Ashcroft has authorized FBI agents to monitor mosques and temples, meetings of citizen groups and other public activities, and the Internet, even when there is no crime to investigate.

Director Mueller has created an anti-terrorism "super squad" in Washington to be a national "clearinghouse" for classified terrorism information. But it would be a mistake to think the national law enforcement response to terrorism is thus being fixed. As we regroup after September 11, we may be weakening our best line of defense against terrorism -- well-trained, well-managed community oriented police departments. Putting the anti-terrorist fight into more "secure" bureaucracies won't meet the threat.

Simply reflect on the characteristics of the suicide bombers. As we see in Palestine, ordinary people without an extremist background, or even a political affiliation, are becoming terrorists. Operating here, such individuals almost never will come to the attention of the FBI "super squad" before they strike.

But well-trained community awareness, led by a police service that is community oriented, is much more likely to gather relevant information about the preparations and suspicious activities of potential terrorists. Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker of 9-11, was first spotted by an alert civilian who went to law enforcement. Moussaoui's desire to learn only "level flight" did not make sense.

Traditionally organized police departments largely gather information from despised snitches who live in the underworld. But community oriented police understand that much more valuable information comes readily from citizens when the community sees the police engaged with it in a respectful partnership for community safety.

One danger in our anti-terrorism effort is that members of our communities will be treated as suspects through misguided ethnic and religious profiling. Muslim and Arab males living in our neighborhoods are not the danger. These members of our communities can help protect all of us, when the police work with them as partners. But with the FBI now sending undercover agents into the nation's mosques, such cooperation with any police department is much less likely.

Our focus on the global threat of terrorism must not distract us from building on our community strengths and on the desire of most of American police officers to serve their communities. Local police, properly managed and trained, have the most fundamental role to play.

We must avoid our natural tendency after the 9-11 attacks to assume the current system is broken, and adopt radical new approaches without careful study. "Terrorism preparedness" can become like the ice cream "flavor of the day" – sweet, satisfying and fattening – but ultimately not very good for you. We must not change our police departments into mini-security agencies with a paramilitary, commando- like style of operation.

Fifteen years ago we had a different law enforcement crisis -- the crack epidemic. Enlightened police leadership embraced the reforms known as community oriented policing. To respond to the widespread drug abuse, family and community disorganization, and rampant crack market violence, many departments changed direction. Officers on the beat directed individuals and families to services they needed to address the crisis: drug treatment referrals, domestic violence intervention, social services for broken families and neglected kids, treatment for children traumatized by experiencing or witnessing violence. To simply respond to 911 calls and arrest suspects when they were detected was inadequate. The new response has helped drive crime rates down around the nation.

How the police are managed is a sensitive political issue in every city. Public officials can make statements about public safety, terrorism or drugs to convey political messages suggesting toughness and cracking down. Or public safety can be managed and directed to effectively meet the needs of the community -- including troubled teenagers, young adults, and people with the disease of addiction – and thus building community partnerships that can provide valuable information about potential terrorists, as well as reduce crime.