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PHOENIX — Mayor Phil Gordon has appointed a four-man panel to consider changes in an immigration policy that critics say makes the city more dangerous.

The policy bars local police officers from calling federal immigration authorities for help in some situations.

Because it prevents such calls when illegal immigrants commit civil traffic violations, the policy has been criticized by advocates for tough border enforcement, who say it keeps local authorities on the sidelines in the fight against illegal immigration.

The criticism reached its peak in September after a Phoenix police officer was fatally shot by an illegal immigrant.

Gordon said the rules must be revised because the policy is out of step with the times and because Phoenix can no longer wait for the federal government to overhaul the country's immigration laws.

"The federal government is unable to complete what they should be doing, and I as mayor cannot allow the situation, the status quo, to stay the same and risk public safety," Gordon said.

The mayor said he wants the changes to be constitutionally sound and guard against racial profiling. He had no other suggestions for the four-man panel to consider as it drafts its recommendations in the coming weeks, Gordon said.

Immigrant-rights groups were disappointed by the mayor's announcement, saying changing the policy would jeopardize the trust that police officers have built up in immigrant communities.

"If the change is to be more of an immigration-reporting change, then what will happen is that there will be a huge — and I mean huge — problem in the Hispanic community with Phoenix police," said Hector Yturralde, president of Somos America, a coalition of groups that has organized immigration protests in Phoenix.

Under the current policy, officers aren't allowed to stop people for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status.

They also are prohibited from arresting people whose only violation is an infraction of federal immigration law.

But the policy allows officers to call federal immigration authorities when immigrant-smuggling vehicles are pulled over or scores of illegal immigrants are found in houses run by smugglers.

Leaders of the Police Department stood behind the policy as recently as seven weeks ago, when the union representing more than 2,200 Phoenix officers called for changes, arguing that officers are tired of seeing crimes tied to illegal immigration.

The union's president, Mark Spencer, said the mayor is right to seek changes.

Officers want to be able to call federal immigration authorities after they have stopped someone suspected of committing a local or state crime, Spencer said.

"This doesn't make us immigration officers," he said.

Phoenix's policies for handling illegal immigrants are frequently cited by some state lawmakers who have pushed unsuccessful proposals that would have done away with those practices.

The September death of Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle, who was shot by an illegal immigrant, brought loud calls for changes.

After his release from prison and subsequent deportation, the immigrant sneaked into the country again and was arrested for misdemeanor assault in Scottsdale but wasn't reported to federal immigration authorities. Later he was fatally shot by police as he pointed a gun at a carjacking victim's head.

Advocates for tough border enforcement are seeking to put a proposal on the 2008 ballot to get rid of policies that prohibit police officers from asking the immigration status of people they contact.