(05-18) 21:25 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco police assigned to the FBI's terrorism task force must abide by local policies protecting civil rights rather than looser federal rules, under an order revealed Wednesday night by Police Chief Greg Suhr.

His announcement came during a rare joint meeting of the San Francisco police and human rights commissions, which was called after the American Civil Liberties Union, along with groups representing Arab Americans and other minorities, raised concerns that local police officers who served on the task force fell under FBI control and therefore operated under federal laws that gave them more leeway in terrorism investigations.

Under the new order issued by Suhr this week, San Francisco police policy trumps FBI policy, even for officers serving on the federal task force, Suhr said.

ACLU lawyers applauded Suhr's announcement, but they said the real question now is whether the FBI will go along with the order, which alters a 4-year-old agreement between the federal agency and the San Francisco Police Department.

"No one wants SFPD officers to be under control of the FBI," John Crew, a lawyer with the ACLU, said during the meeting. "We're all on the same page about that. But we're not there yet with making it happen."

Specifically, Crew suggested that San Francisco create a formal agreement with the FBI, guaranteeing that local police are subject to local civil rights policies.

At the heart of the concerns raised by the ACLU and others is that FBI guidelines - especially those in place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - have a much lower threshold of suspicion for criminal investigations than local policies. That opens up avenues for racial profiling that would be forbidden under San Francisco investigative rules, civil rights advocates argue.

A new agreement with the FBI is not just about redefining the relationship between federal and local authorities, said Cecilia Chung, a member of the Human Rights Commission.

"It's also building trust with the community," she said.