Officers' Indictment Tarnishes An Elite Unit The Highway Patrol Made A Reputation As A Tough Crime-fighting Corps That Took Only The Best. Some Feel That Era Is Ending.

When John F. Kennedy was inaugurated in 1961, he insisted that the Philadelphia Highway Patrol come to Washington to be part of the presidential review.

Kennedy had grown enamored of the unit during a campaign swing. Its officers were men like him: young, brash, determined to succeed, the kind of people who accepted the toughest of assignments with a salute and a confident ``Yes sir!''

For decades, the Highway Patrol was synonymous with the best, brightest and most aggressive Philadelphia police officers, many of whom rose to the department's highest ranks. It was a department within a department, a strike force targeted at high-crime areas, an elite cadre whose officers shone like new pennies.

Some patrolmen were so gung-ho they polished the bottoms of their black leather boots. Others were so skilled at stopping crime that felons put out contracts on their lives.

``All good, active cops strove to go to Highway Patrol,'' said former Chief Inspector John McLees, a Highway Patrol veteran who now works for the city schools.

Yesterday, with the indictment of two Highway Patrol officers on federal corruption charges, some in the Police Department sensed the end of an era. Three Highway patrolmen have now been charged in the continuing federal-city corruption probe.

``It breaks my heart,'' said Robert Hurst, a three-time president of the Fraternal Order of Police. ``Honest to God, it just breaks my heart.''

The indictments seemed a final blow to a faded reputation. Over the years, a perception that highway officers were quick with a gun and fast with a nightstick drew community complaints, especially from minority residents, who accused the patrol of storm-trooper tactics. The size and role of the unit has diminished, from about 150 officers in its heyday to about 50 today.

The unit's rich history reaches to the 1920s, with the founding of the Motor Bandit Patrol - created so police could catch criminals who used a relatively new invention called the automobile.

The Motor Bandit unit was eliminated in the 1950s, and its duties were transferred to the new Highway Patrol. Its officers donned knee-high leather boots, crushed hats and riding britches, signature attire that would become both hated and revered in Philadelphia.

Their esprit-de-corp was infectious. In winter, some officers spent hours painting their leather jackets with black Kiwi polish to make them even glossier.