HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell agreed yesterday to spend $14.8 million to add 180 state troopers over the next 18 months to patrol Pennsylvania highways, promote homeland security and fight a rise in youth gang violence.

The money is included in the just-approved 2005-06 state budget.

Republicans said Rendell already has been too slow to hire more troopers, while the state police union expressed concerns about turning over police jobs to civilians.

GOP critics focused on one aspect of Rendell's plan -- shifting additional troopers to Philadelphia to patrol state highways that run through Pennsylvania's largest city. That move will relieve the city of several million dollars of spending. Rendell was mayor there in the 1990s.

Steve Miskin, a spokesman for House Republicans, said, "Once again he's putting Philadelphia first. It wasn't until Philadelphia had a budget gap that he felt the need to hire state troopers. Philadelphia has a friend in Ed Rendell."

Republican legislators often complain that Rendell helps Philadelphia, pointing to things like his failed effort to get tax breaks for cable giant Comcast to build a skyscraper in Philly's downtown.

Rendell strongly denied any favoritism, saying that in "Pittsburgh and Erie and Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and every other town in the state except Philadelphia," state troopers already patrol state roads within city limits, so his new move merely will put Philadelphia on an equal footing with other towns.

The state police commander, Col. Jeffrey Miller, couldn't say yesterday how many of the additional troopers would be moved to Philadelphia.

He did say that 60 Philadelphia city officers now patrol those state highways, but he couldn't say if 60 state troopers would be needed to replace them. He said the troopers wouldn't take over patrols in Philadelphia before early next year.

Miller said nearly all 81 existing state police barracks want additional troopers and promised that all areas of the state will be treated fairly.

Of the 180, 60 will be existing troopers freed up from indoor jobs such as answering phones, greeting visitors and filing paperwork at their current barracks. The other 120 will be new hires. Those new hires will boost the current complement of 4,338 troopers, which Rendell said is already "a historic high," to 4,458.

But none one will hit the road immediately. The new hires will have to go through seven months of training at the State Police Academy in Hershey before they can report for duty. The first group of cadets likely will start at the academy in the fall.

The 60 existing troopers can't be freed from desk jobs until 60 civilians are hired to replace them. That can't happen until Rendell works out an agreement with the troopers union, called the Pennsylvania State Trooper Association.

Rendell and Miller said they want to begin discussions immediately with the union on the "civilianization" process.

Union President Bruce A. Edwards, in a statement, offered to start talks immediately "to formulate a mutually agreeable plan to civilianize positions" in the state police.

In light of recent terror attacks in London and elsewhere, Edwards said, "I think we can both agree that troopers throughout the state should be devoting their time to police duties, not clerical work."

But civilians would not just be handling paperwork or answering phones. They also would take over technical jobs such as document examiners, latent fingerprint examiners, ballistics specialists and forensics experts, which could complicate negotiations.

As required by state law, half of the $14.8 million will go into a reserve fund until the civilianization agreement is reached with the union.

No one knows how long that will take, leading Miskin to say: "If he wants to put more troopers on the road, he should do it," and not hold back half the money.

Miskin said he wanted to make sure that Rendell isn't engaging in some form of "union busting" by turning over police jobs to civilians.

Rendell and Miller said they have no such thing in mind, insisting that public safety will be enhanced by putting more trained, experienced troopers out on the road to patrol hundreds of miles of state highways and many towns that don't have their own police forces.

As for the highway patrols in Philadelphia, Edwards said city police there "have always performed their duties in an exemplary fashion."

While he didn't object to replacing the city police, Edwards added, "It's unfortunate this decision was made at a time when the rest of the state desperately needs the 180 troopers provided for in the state budget."

Miller said there's been a rise in youth gang and drug-related violence in several cities around Pennsylvania and more state police are needed for anti-gang task forces.

Adrian King, a Rendell aide and head of the state's homeland security department, said some of the additional troopers may be used for anti-terrorism work.

Last year's state budget included money to hire 90 more troopers, but Rendell refused to spend it, saying that 4,338 were enough.

This angered Republican legislators, especially Rep. Ron Marsico of Harrisburg, who wanted additional troopers hired a year ago.

Rendell now says the state's economy has improved to the point that it can afford to make the new hires.

Some of the 120 new troopers could start the police academy in October, Miller said. But it likely will take several classes before all are on the job.