BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI

 Until the political standoff over Elian Gonzalez cast a question mark over local
 police's willingness to assist federal immigration authorities, close and even friendly
 cooperation between both -- from sharing information to going after immigrants
 involved in crime -- was a matter of routine.

 Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service agents in South Florida
 often work with police in a variety of ways: They call on officers for backup when
 rounding up aliens for deportation, help police identify criminal suspects who may
 be illegal, and depend on them to detain rafters who land on local beaches.

 ``It's been nothing but a positive experience in the year I have been here,'' said Jim
 Goldman, head of investigations for the INS in Florida. ``The key is officer safety.
 If we're going in to a house to execute a search warrant and we have 10 agents,
 we might request uniform presence, a couple of squad cars, a SWAT team,
 depending on the situation. On a big operation, we can get 100 people if we need
 it.''

 CLOSE RELATIONSHIP

 Federal and police officials say they expect that close working relationship to
 continue despite the controversy ignited when state and local authorities, led by
 Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, vowed not to lend their law enforcement
 resources to any effort to ``inappropriately'' remove Elian from his relatives' Little
 Havana home.

 ``We've always worked well together and will continue working together in a
 professional manner,'' said Cmdr. Linda O'Brien, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade
 Police.

 While police said they would not allow violence or civil disturbances over Elian's
 case, they made it clear they were unwilling to provide cover to federal agents if
 they were to try to break through demonstrators to take the boy. Federal
 authorities say they are not contemplating such a move.

 Taking custody of the boy is strictly a federal matter, local authorities said.

 In fact, until a few years ago, police were leery of getting involved in helping
 enforce immigration laws, something they regarded as a federal duty. Nothing in
 the law compels local police to help INS or Border Patrol agents, and statutes
 reserve the authority to enforce immigration law for federal agents.

 But public demands for a crackdown on illegal immigrants, coupled with a relative
 shortage of immigration agents, has gradually led to full and even enthusiastic
 working relationships between feds and locals. That does not mean that local
 police round up illegal immigrants, but they will, for instance, help INS agents
 arrest people suspected of immigration-related crimes, such as document fraud or
 smuggling.

 BEACH LANDINGS

 As beach landings by illegal immigrants become increasingly common, the
 Border Patrol, with only a few agents in South Florida, has come to rely on local
 police to round up the newcomers.

 ``The locals will hold them until we arrive,'' said Dan Geoghegan, an assistant
 Border Patrol chief. ``They're in a better position than we are to detect landings.''

 Cooperation can be controversial, particularly in immigrant-heavy communities
 such as South Florida, Geoghegan said. But those relationships have become
 more important as the INS has shifted its emphasis on detaining and deporting
 immigrants involved in serious crimes.

 ``In our criminal alien efforts, we get a lot of leads, a lot of information from police
 departments and probation departments. It's our bread and butter,'' the INS'
 Goldman said. ``If we're looking at a particular ethnic gang in our violent gang task
 force, we would work with local police.''

 RELYING ON POLICE

 As they increasingly target dangerous criminals, immigration agents have come
 to rely on local police to bolster their safety by sealing off areas for raids and
 searches, or providing extra personnel -- or coming to their aid if they run into
 trouble.

 ``If we find ourselves unexpectedly in that situation, we would expect local law
 enforcement to come in and back us up,'' said Amy Otten, an INS spokeswoman.
 ``They are not enforcing immigration law. They are backing us up. It's pretty
 normal, pretty ordinary.''

 One such emergency happened two years ago, when INS officers, backed by
 Border Patrol agents, conducted a raid at a west Miami-Dade flower wholesaler.
 When workers, saying they had been pushed around and physically abused, put
 up resistance, the federal agents called in Miami-Dade police to re-establish
 control.

 For the past two years, the INS has been helping police in 33 states, including
 Florida, quickly identify criminal suspects who are illegal through an electronic
 system that will soon be expanded to the whole country.

 ``They have to have a reasonable suspicion, such as a van full of people who can't
 provide any explanation of where they're going or have no documents,'' Otten said,
 alluding to smuggling schemes in which illegal immigrants are packed into
 vehicles.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald