BY FRANCES ROBLES

 Police departments found themselves on the defensive Thursday -- spending the
 day fielding frantic calls from people worried that if civil unrest broke out over
 Elian Gonzalez, cops planned to sit it out.

 Not so, Miami and Miami-Dade Police were quick to say -- no matter what people
 thought Mayor Alex Penelas said the day before.

 ``We clearly said we were not going to condone illegal behavior,'' the mayor's
 spokesman Juan Mendieta stressed. ``We recognize the right to peacefully
 protest in parks. If it's in lanes of traffic, that's a different story.''

 Penelas stirred up a controversy Wednesday after saying the federal government
 could not use county resources for the ``illegal'' repatriation of the 6-year-old boy
 to Cuba. Many television viewers watching his comments live took it to mean the
 police departments would stand back and do nothing, no matter what occurred.

 MORE FALLOUT

 Plenty of appalled municipal and federal law enforcers took it that way too.

 ``To come to our federal courthouse and give that speech -- what was that?'' one
 federal agent said. ``That's unbelievable. You're telling me if I'm getting my butt
 kicked, nobody's going to jump in? I don't think so.''

 Both Miami and Miami-Dade Police said they won't allow law-breaking. That
 means no street-blocking, no airport-blocking, no rock-throwing. That said, both
 have zero intention of offering their SWAT teams to help drag Elian out of his
 uncle's house past protesters.

 ``If the feds came to me and said, `There's 20,000 people around the house and
 we got 50 guys and we need some help to break through,' I'd have to say very
 seriously: `That's not a good idea,' '' Miami Police Chief William O'Brien said.

 O'Brien said his department is trying to work with protesters to keep things
 peaceful. He cited past instances where Haitian-Americans were permitted to
 block traffic in front of the INS building for short stretches. In four minutes, the
 street was cleared.

 NO BLOCKED STREETS

 ``Our position is, `If you're going to do something, give us a shout -- provided
 whatever you do is not designed to bring Miami to a halt,' '' O'Brien said. ``If the
 objective is to block streets, then we'd have a workman-like position of making
 arrests in a methodical and professional manner.''

 He acknowledged that he was taken aback by Penelas' press conference.

 ``I was surprised,'' he said. ``My understanding was they'd reached out to U.S.
 Marshals for a call to calm. Based on the calls we received, I'm not sure they
 achieved their objective.''

 Deputy John Amat, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals, said the agency had no
 plans to intervene in Elian's case.

 ``We're not involved, we have nothing to do with it, and we have no reaction to the
 mayor's comments yesterday,'' he said. ``We're not anticipating being involved.''

 Neither does Miami-Dade Police.

 ``This is a federal matter in a different jurisdiction,'' said Commander Linda
 O'Brien, spokeswoman for the county police. ``We are not involved in this.''

 She also said that the police would make arrests if protesters block the airport or
 other public facilities.

 ``Should there be civil disobedience, where people are breaking the law, we will
 not tolerate civil disobedience,'' she said.

 Carlos Alvarez, director of the department, was not giving media interviews, the
 spokeswoman said. She would not say how Alvarez reacted to Penelas'
 comments.

 ``That's an inappropriate question,'' she said. ``I don't think he had an opinion
 either way.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald