By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Imagine a world without block watches, the August neighborhood nights out and crossing guards.

For many community members who use these services, that situation is tough to comprehend, but in four months it could become a reality.

To conquer the City's $50 million budget deficit, Mayor Greg Nickels is planning deep cuts among all City departments and programs, including a 5 percent reduction of the police department's budget.

If proposals from Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske are approved in November by the City Council, Seattle will lose its community service officers, crime prevention personnel, victims' advocates and crossing guards. No sworn police officers are expected to be laid off. "The Chief has made it very clear that he doesn't argue (that these positions) are critical," said Officer Duane Fish, a police department spokesman. "However, tough times call for tough measures. You've got to scale back to your basic function which is public safety."

Not surprisingly, community groups in North Seattle are worried about the impact these cuts would have, if approved.

"We don't want the effect of those budget cuts to be putting citizens more in jeopardy," said Dave Quiring, an Aurora Avenue business owner who is past-president of the North Precinct Advisory Council, a citizens group which works closely with the police in North Seattle. He said the City's crime prevention program has helped to make the Police Department's efforts more efficient.

The loss of the crime prevention program is "going to be a detriment to the community," said Betty Bartholomew, a member of the Lake City Task Force, a citizens group that has been assisting police in monitoring crime in the Lake City area. Bartholomew expressed concern that citizens' Block Watch efforts could be adversely impacted, but added that the Task Force would continue, regardless.

It seems likely that the Block Watch program, which marked its 29th anniversary this year, would suffer under the proposed cuts. Founded in 1973 through a federal grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency, the program was so successful that it was adopted by the City's general fund when the grant money ran out.

Cecil Taylor, a former Wallingford resident, was instrumental in forming a Block Watch group in his neighborhood two decades ago. He said thanks to the efforts of local volunteers, crime dropped 47 percent in Wallingford after the program was implemented.

"It would be a disastrous mistake to do away with Block Watch and the crime prevention division," Taylor said.

"Block watches can survive without our office," said Terrie Johnston, a crime prevention coordinator in Northwest Seattle. "You'd have to do your own maps, there will be no Police Department generated crime stats to share with you, no newsletters, no offender notifications and no brochures to hand out. But active committed groups can do everything on their own, with some research, through the (Seattle Police Department's Block Watch) Web page." She added, "the coordinators want to fight back for the program, but we don't believe we have more than a sliver of hope."

Block Watch volunteers could find their support services gone even sooner than next year if crime prevention coordinators get other jobs. The crime prevention program currently employs 17 workers.

"The funding ends at the end of the year but many of us will be gone well before that," said Diane Horswill, a crime prevention coordinator based in the University District.

Sonja Richter, a crime prevention coordinator based in Lake City, said she believes that the loss of the City's 18 community service officers will be even more serious than the loss of crime prevention.

Community service officers, Richter said, are unarmed personnel who handle everything from transporting crime victims to the hospital to landlord-tenant disputes and they are paid less than sworn officers. With community service officers gone, the Police Department will pay sworn officers more to do the same work, she said.

Richter believes relying on volunteers to do such sensitive jobs could be a legal liability for the Police Department.

Fish said, in some cases, tasks that had previously been handled by community service officers will simply take longer to get done.

"If you have to respond to a major incident, support services will have to wait," Fish said. "It's called prioritizing and it has to be done in law enforcement."

Other proposed cuts would cause ripple effects as well. Bill Southern, a spokesman for the Seattle School District, said that if the City's 114 adult crossing guards go, student guards will as well.

"If there's no adult supervision we're not going to put (students) out there without it," Southern said. He added, "we're pretty concerned for our elementary school students because they are not street smart yet. We didn't anticipate (crossing guards) being on the chopping block."