A Police Force Rebuffs F.B.I. on Querying Mideast Men

The Portland, Ore., police will not

cooperate with the Federal Bureau

of Investigation in its efforts to interview

5,000 young Middle Eastern men

nationwide because such questioning

violates state law, the department’s acting

police chief, Andrew Kirkland, said

yesterday.

The decision is the first known case of a

city’s refusing to go along with the

antiterrorism effort, which was announced

last week by Attorney General John

Ashcroft.

But top police officials in several other cities have also said that Mr.

Ashcroft’s plan raises troubling questions about racial profiling — an issue

that has brought endless grief to police departments nationwide — and

may violate local and state laws about issues like intelligence gathering

for political purposes. NY Times