Rotation Policy

A photo caption in yesterday's Sun incorrectly described the assignment of several police officers seen making a street sweep. The officers, shown arresting a man wanted on a warrant, were from the Northwestern District.The Sun regrets the errors.In assessing the Baltimore Police Department's war on drugs, consider the case of Rodney Curtis, who inhabits one drug corner in one neighborhood of a beleaguered city.Arrested at Fayette and Mount streets in July, Curtis, 19, was soon released and then arrested again for loitering at the West Baltimore corner a month later.

In January, Thomas C. Frazier took over the 2,900-member Baltimore Police Department, an agency dogged by brutality complaints, petty corruption, and internal strife fueled by racial friction.The city was reeling from its second-straight record-setting year for homicides.Some 353 people were slain in Baltimore in 1993 -- up from 335 the year before -- as drug dealers brazenly took over neighborhoods and police morale plummeted under Commissioner Edward V. Woods.Frustrated by the carnage, politicians and community leaders turned up the heat on Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Mr. Woods.

Edward E. Fox Jr. is a highly decorated Baltimore police officer who went undercover to help nail William "Little Will" Franklin, Tommy Lee Canty, James C. Harris and several other notorious drug dealers.The undercover work was dangerous, but Officer Fox thought he was performing a valuable service in the war against drugs. Now he wonders whether his work was recognized by the top brass in the Police Department.Officer Fox's career as a narcotics investigator abruptly ended in October 1991 after he was quoted in an article about "New York Boys" -- violent New York drug dealers who have set up shop in city neighborhoods.

What the three Republican candidates for mayor lack in money, lawn signs and supporters, they make up in gumption.In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 9-to-1, where a Republican hasn't been mayor in nearly three decades, Victor Clark Jr., S. Scott McCown and Arthur W. Cuffie Jr. are almost absurdly upbeat about their candidacies. Each says he has the answer to the city's ills and can run government better than Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and his opponent, City Council President Mary Pat Clarke.

It is midmorning, and Baltimore's police chief is at his desk, scanning a list of items seized in drug raids. He's looking for a lawn mower. And a grill.A scavenger hunt may not fit the image of Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier and his tough stance on violent crime, but for this self-described "social worker with a gun," it's exactly the image he wants to project.Obtaining items for the force's youth choir or a neighborhood cleanup, he says, is crucial to the mission of making Baltimore safer.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Orioles roster thinned out a little Monday, with several players being sent out of camp including right-hander Brad Bergesen, who pitched in 34 games with the Orioles last year. The Orioles have not yet announced the cuts, but they also include infielder Steve Tolleson, outfielder Scott Beerer and catcher John Hester - all non-roster invitees - who were sent to minor-league camp. Bergesen was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to be a starter. Also optioned to Triple-A Norfolk were pitcher Jason Berken, who made his spring debut Sunday after dealing with a hamstring issue, and Matt Antonelli, who batted .194 in 31 at-bats this spring.

A confidential study of the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit, whose detectives make arrests in less than half the city's slayings, blames the failings on poor supervision and antipathy between detectives and prosecutors. The stinging analysis lists a variety of internal problems that include rotating out experienced investigators, substandard equipment and inadequate staffing of crucial support personnel, such as laboratory technicians and clerks. From broken tape recorders to case folders that are in "abysmal condition -- that is, when they can be located," the report portrays a dysfunctional unit whose detectives are responsible for investigating the most serious of offenses.

Washington. THREE DAYS after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a senior White House official sighed: ''At least Congress is out of town.'' The president, crossing the White House lawn from his helicopter, was asked by reporters how he planned to respond. He snapped at the questioners, ''Listen, watch and learn.''That set the tone for the first three months of this crisis. It has been the president's business: personal and private. But now that there soon may be 400,000 U.S. personnel in the Persian Gulf region, it is time to involve 535 other Americans.

A defiant Maj. Barry Powell told a cheering crowd of about 100 supporters last night that he wants to keep command of the Northwestern Police District, despite the police commissioner's plan to transfer him."This is my command, no one else's," he told the crowd at the New Fellowship Christian Community Church. "I have a commitment to the Northwestern District. If this is the commander that you want, then I will stay."Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier said last week that Major Powell, who is black, would be replaced with a Jewish officer -- a move that the commissioner has delayed after protests from leaders in the black community.

Responding to allegations of corruption in a district station house, Baltimore's police commissioner said yesterday that he is committed to restoring the "internal integrity" of the department and has begun implementing safeguards aimed at keeping officers honest. Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm, speaking publicly for the first time about the arrest and suspension of several officers from the "flex squad" in the city's Southwestern District, said he has reinstated procedures that were in use when he left the Police Department in 1996 but were later eliminated.