July 30, 2001

Mike Piazza hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday, sending the Mets to their third straight victory over the contending Philadelphia Phillies. Piazza, the Mets' franchise player, was greeted at home plate by a mob of teammates, who celebrated by pounding his helmet like a piñata. For a moment, the Mets could imagine they were somewhere else, anywhere but their miserable 2001 season. The 6-5 victory over the Phillies was a nice send-off to the 38,536 fans who spent a pleasant afternoon at Shea Stadium watching a Mets team in transition.

Police departments in cities across the nation are facing what some call a personnel crisis, with the number of recruits at record lows, an increasing number of experienced officers turning down promotions to sergeant or lieutenant and many talented senior officers declining offers to become police chiefs, executive recruiters and police officials say. Making the situation worse, in some cities a growing number of police officers are quitting for higher-paying jobs in suburban departments or private businesses.

Organized Crime Case Raises Issues of Privacy The case of Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr. has become the latest battleground in the struggle to determine the balance between the government's ability to conduct surveillance and the right to privacy. Mr. Scarfo has been awaiting trial on charges of running gambling and loan-sharking operations for the Gambino crime family. A federal judge in Newark will hear defense pleas today to throw out evidence gathered by a system that recorded almost every keystroke typed into Mr. Scarfo's computer, including the password that investigators used to unscramble his files. [Page C7.]

New Microsoft Scrutiny Regulators are considering legal action to force Microsoft to alter Windows XP, which tightly integrates Internet services into the basic operating system. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 Polish Communist Is Dead Edward Gierek, Poland's Western-oriented Communist leader for a decade before the creation of Solidarity, the independent trade union and foundation of Polish democracy, died at 88. PAGE B6

A lobbying campaign led by the Teamsters union to keep Mexican trucks off American roads is on the verge of handing organized labor a major legislative victory over President Bush, endangering one of his most cherished foreign policy goals and reminding the White House of the political muscle still flexed here by labor unions. If the Teamsters prevail, it could undermine the president's hopes of improved trade and diplomatic ties with Mexico, which has demanded the opening of the border to Mexican trucks under terms of the eight-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Bush had hoped to comply by next year.