BY DAVID KIDWELL AND MARK SILVA

 State and local police said Wednesday that in the unlikely event federal
 authorities decide to forcibly take Elian Gonzalez from his Miami home, they will
 do nothing to assist -- and nothing in the law says they must.

 High-level police sources said Wednesday that they would step in if protesters
 become violent, but they will not help federal agents get through demonstrators
 into the Gonzalez home.

 ``We consider it a federal issue as to his status and his return to Cuban,'' said
 Miami Police Chief Bill O'Brien. ``This department will not involve itself in the
 physical taking of that child.''

 O'Brien also said his department would be out in force to keep the peace, and to
 protect citizens, as well as federal agents, in the event of civil unrest.

 ``We are sworn to uphold and enforce the law,'' he said. ``We will not let people's
 safety be jeopardized.''

 Those specifics emerged after a day of widespread confusion prompted by
 impassioned public statements from Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade
 Mayor Alex Penelas -- declarations interpreted by many to mean the feds are on
 their own.

 The pronouncements prompted a barrage of criticism, some comparing Carollo
 and Penelas to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who in 1963 stood in the
 doorway of the University of Alabama to block federal desegregation.

 ``I would hope we have advanced beyond that point today,'' said former Florida
 Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan. ``I've lived here 52 years and I've never seen
 anything like this.''

 The furor also prompted a call from federal immigration officials to the Miami field
 office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to see if they could be
 counted on for help, said FDLE Director Tim Moore. Its answer was the same.

 ``Public safety, yes. Extraction, no,'' Moore said Wednesday from his
 Tallahassee office. ``Any other facilitation, no.

 ``The INS called us and asked us, would we assist them in removing the child.
 . . . If it means extract the child from that house, no we will not,'' Moore said. ``If it
 means help the police keep public safety in that community in any way we can,
 yes, absolutely.

 ``If it means anything else, no.''

 By Wednesday evening, confusion and criticism over the Penelas/Carollo
 statements prompted clarifications.

 ``It is disappointing that some media outlets are interpreting our remarks from
 earlier today incorrectly and falsely,'' Penelas said in an evening statement. ``Let
 me be very clear. My colleagues and I do not condone illegal disturbances or
 protests that infringe on the rights of others.''

 Penelas reiterated his pledge not to spend county resources on ``the forced
 removal of the child from his relatives' home; this is the responsibility of federal
 agencies. However, our public safety officials are prepared to keep the public
 order.''

 Even Gov. Jeb Bush weighed in to assure Miami-Dade residents that lawlessness
 is neither encouraged nor condoned.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald