DON FINEFROCK

 Two employees of the Miami-Dade Police  Department were called before
 their commander and ''counseled" for allegedly criticizing Miami-Dade Mayor
 Alex Penelas after he talked tough in the looming showdown over Elian Gonzalez.

 The employees say they were treated unfairly after an anonymous memo
 accused them of ''mocking" the mayor for his remarks on March 29.

 ''I don't think it is going to harm my career, but it is uncomfortable to be called
 in and counseled for an anonymous allegation," said Gary Krantz, 49, an
 administrative officer in the department's central records bureau.

 ''I think that sets a reckless precedent. This is very chilling."

 A third employee was counseled after being accused of taunting Cuban
 American employees.

 Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Linda O'Brien defended the department's
 response, even though no one is sure who said what to whom.

 ''If someone could be offended, then other employees need to be aware of
 that," she said.

 The memo was written the day after Penelas said local police would not help
 the Justice Department repatriate Elian Gonzalez to Cuba and accused the
 U.S. government of provoking unrest.

 The mayor was widely criticized for his remarks.

 Krantz and another administrative officer, Heather Thomas, 37, are identified by
 name in a one-page complaint addressed to Police Director Carlos Alvarez.

 ''They were making jokes and mocking the mayor," the memo says.

 The memo also names a third employee, Lt. Donald Rifkin, saying he taunted
 Cuban American employees over the fate of Elian, the 6-year-old at the heart of a
 custody dispute between his Miami relatives and Cuban father.

 Rifkin, 39, denies taunting anyone. He says he was never given a chance to
 defend himself against the accusation. Nevertheless, he was called in for
 counseling.

 ''They could have asked us if we did in fact say those things,'' Rifkin said.

 The authors of the memo identified themselves as Cuban American employees of
 the records bureau, although no one signed the document.

 ''We understand that everyone is entitled to have an opinion, they wrote. ''But this
 is not what is happening here. We feel that these people are provoking us."

 The employees said they called the mayor's office to report the situation, but
 Penelas spokesman Juan Mendieta denied any involvement by his office.

 ''Nobody has any recollection of any calls being made to our office," he said.

 ''If somebody made disparaging remarks about the mayor, either an employee or
 a citizen, they are certainly entitled to do so and the mayor would never take any
 action to reprimand or call anybody on the carpet.

 ''If anyone was called on the carpet over at the police department, it was their
 decision to take that action," Mendieta said.

 Krantz said he can't recall making any comments about Penelas, but even if he
 did, the action was unwarranted.

 ''It is the principle of this being a free country and you're being allowed to take
 public officials to task," he said. ''It is not going to affect me professionally, but it
 affects me personally."

 Informal counseling is the first step in the county's disciplinary process.

 ''It is considered the first step, but it is not discipline," said Carmen Davis, a
 supervisor in the Employee Relations Department. ''It is not recorded. It is not
 documented in their personnel file."

 O'Brien, the police spokeswoman, said the official response was appropriate,
 even though the complaint contained few specifics.

 ''The fact that employees apparently felt offended by an alleged conversation --
 and we don't know what the conversation was -- the bureau commander merely
 talked to the three individuals named, to advise them that this memo had been
 written," O'Brien said. ''It boils down to everybody needs to be careful when they
 talk about something.''

 But the three employees questioned the action.

 ''Anybody can say anything about anyone. I really don't feel that I should have
 been informally counseled for that," Rifkin said.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald