An emerging plan to merge the Pittsburgh Housing Authority's 30 police officers with the city's 840-man force has aroused the ire of the Fraternal Order of Police.

"I oppose it, per se, because of the fact that they're actually lowering the standards of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau to secure $3 million" in federal housing police funding, said FOP President James Malloy yesterday.

He sent a letter yesterday to his union members outlining his opposition to the move, which would allow authority police to join the bureau even if they don't meet requirements like the 60-college-credit minimum for city applicants. He said it's unclear how a merger would affect the police pension fund and officer seniority.

His comments came on the eve of today's event by the authority protesting $9 million in federal funding cuts that will prompt service reductions and 57 job cuts, according to authority Executive Director A. Fulton Meachem Jr. The authority, and its Allegheny County counterpart, will hold a public event and march starting at the Hill House in the Hill District at 2 p.m., coinciding with similar cries for funding by housing agencies in 100 cities.

"We're just exploring all opportunities" for dealing with the cuts, said Mr. Meachem. A merger of the authority's police force into the city's, he said, is under review, but not imminent.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said discussions are too preliminary for him to comment.

Mr. Malloy, though, said he believes the move is coming soon. He said he can't stop the merger, which would bring in officers represented by an independent union.

He said he believes the authority would continue to collect federal money earmarked for housing police, but would pass it on to the city.