They've stockpiled bicycles and riot helmets, snacks and Gatorade. They've rented an eight-foot security fence and water cannons. They'll set up a makeshift jail in Liberty City.

And they've been training for months.

Led by Miami police, more than 40 law enforcement agencies have assembled a massive security plan for the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit next week that is expected to attract tens of thousands of protesters.

With a global spotlight shining on Miami, about 2,500 police officers will be deployed on city streets working to ensure that what happens inside the Hotel Inter-Continental, where 34 nations will discuss free trade, is not eclipsed by what happens outside.

The vast majority of demonstrators will likely express their opposition to free trade with marches, rallies, speeches and signs. But police anticipate a smaller contingent of violent protesters trying to cause enough chaos to disrupt the summit.

It is for them that law enforcement is preparing.

Miami officials are guided, in part, by what has occurred at other international economic meetings, including the now infamous 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, where street protesters set fires, smashed store windows and caused an estimated $2 million in property damage.

In addition, Miami Police Chief John Timoney will draw on his experience as police commissioner in Philadelphia during the 2000 Republican National Convention, when police and protesters clashed -- and Timoney was accused of wielding a heavy hand.

Timoney will not reveal many details about the FTAA summit security plan, which has included hours of ''what if'' meetings on what protesters might have in store.

''We're well prepared and well trained,'' he said. ``But I guarantee you they'll come up with something we haven't seen before.''

For law enforcement agencies, the essential challenge is balancing the rights of demonstrators while protecting about 1,000 summit participants and the city.

''The driver here is providing for security for Miami and the FTAA delegates while still allowing for the free speech of anyone who wants to protest,'' said Lt. Anthony L. Russell of the Coast Guard, which is overseeing maritime security for the conference.

SHOW OF FORCE

One key way local law enforcement officials hope to avert trouble is through a major show of force.

''A very, very strong physical presence can deter a lot of conduct,'' said Ed Joiner, a retired assistant police chief in Seattle, where critics said police failed to anticipate the potential for trouble and overreacted once trouble occurred. ``Once you lose control, it's much more difficult to get it back.''

For the FTAA summit, officials have prepared an elaborate plan for land and sea. Several police departments have been assigned to patrol specific areas: For example, Hialeah is responsible for Bayside Park, Florida Highway Patrol for the Brickell Avenue financial district and Coral Gables for the Hyatt Hotel, a secondary summit site. Other departments will provide backup to Miami police as needed.

Some federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Protective Service, also will provide security. The Coast Guard will have a command center in the Port of Miami and patrol the waterfront and the Miami River.

And if demonstrators intent on violence decide downtown Miami is too heavily policed and try to strike elsewhere -- Coral Gables or Miami Beach, for example -- law enforcement officials say they'll be ready.

''We've planned for a lot of different scenarios,'' said Sgt. Raul Pedroso, spokesman for Coral Gables Police. ``The store will definitely be manned.''

Perhaps the most worrisome and unpredictable contingent of protesters is the self-described anarchists, who travel to international economic meetings intent on causing as much mayhem as possible.

''When it comes to dealing with the anarchists, we have to set the rules and expect that they're not going to play by them,'' said Capt. Steve Swenson of the police department in Eugene, Ore., home base for several hundred anarchists.

On the basis of his own experience, Swenson counsels disciplined restraint.

''I would much rather let them burn a couple street signs than let people get hurt trying to break it up,'' he said.

FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE

Timoney learned firsthand the need to calibrate police tactics. During the GOP convention, police rushed to respond to several simultaneous disturbances. Some demonstrators took advantage by vandalizing about two dozen unattended police cars.

''We have to have a much more disciplined, systematic response,'' he said.

But even as law enforcement agencies have learned from past high-profile meetings, so too have demonstrators. In some cases, protesters have used the protective cocoon of peaceful demonstrators from which to launch objects at police. Besides rocks and bottles, demonstrators have hurled eggs filled with acid and Molotov cocktails.

''You're always one event behind the curve,'' Swenson said.

One popular tactic is the use of so-called sleeping dragons, devices made of anything from PVC to concrete that protesters use to lock arms, block intersections and trigger traffic nightmares.

Local law enforcement agencies have designated ''cut teams'' trained and equipped with saws and jackhammers to dismantle the devices if they are used here. Coral Gables alone has spent $24,000 for equipment for its ``cut team.''

BIKE PATROLS

A strategy Timoney used in Philadelphia that he is preparing for the FTAA summit is the use of bicycle patrols. Bikes allow police to chase suspects and herd crowds without seeming overly threatening, as horse-mounted officers sometimes do.

Local law enforcement agencies have invested significant funds purchasing or leasing equipment, including stun guns and, in a worst-case scenario, fire trucks for Miami-Dade County police that could be used as water cannons.

Police have said it is too early to say how much safeguarding the FTAA summit will cost, but Congress has allocated $8.5 million to help local organizers pay for security.

Miami police also have traveled to Washington to study how police there have handled global protesters.

''You guys are prepared,'' said Washington Police Commander Cathy Lanier.

With sufficient preparation -- and a bit of luck -- law enforcement officials hope the city will accommodate a lively, calm and unfettered discussion of free trade by supporters and detractors.

''What happened with Seattle I think is, they didn't do much advance planning,'' said Joseph Ryan, chairman of the Criminal Justice and Sociology Department at Pace University in New York and a former New York police officer. ``But to be fair, Seattle was the first time we ever saw the anarchists acting up that way. Now, in different cities where they have demonstrated in that capacity, police were able to prepare.''

Herald staff writer Larry Lebowitz and Herald research editor Elisabeth Donovan contributed to this report.

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