EVER considered how important the Internet has become for modern police work?

Just consider how police forces in over 20 states in the US are feeling cut off as the final days loom for a government-funded computer service.

The Tribal Rural Law Enforcement Internet Project links thousands of rural policemen to crucial Internet and e-mail access.

But after having been in operation since 1995, it shutting down at the end of this month.

This move will affect at least 1,500 users. Comanche Nation Police Chief Vernon Griffin told USA Today that police forces in the most isolated parts of the country are the ones that will be hardest hit.

They have come to depend on the service to get help for even basic operations, such as the drawing of search warrants and responding to the death of officers.

The service is run out of the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement, a division of the Criminal Justice Institute, University of Arkansas System.

According to its website, it is a university-based organisation that aims to strengthen the law-enforcement profession in America's small towns and rural communities.

Now, however, the federal funding for its Internet project has run out.

Affected police forces are still scrambling to find alternatives.

According to USA Today, these forces need Internet access for everything from probing crime to just reporting annual crime statistics to the FBI.

Sixty police departments rely on the project for basic Internet access.

Many more rely on the project's listserv. Through this dedicated e-mail group, members can help and advise each other on such things as enforcing curfews or sourcing for more fuel-efficient patrol vehicles.

By all accounts, the loss of the listserv will be most keenly felt.