TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - Believing gangs and Mozart don't mix, city police and Pierce Transit officials are mounting a classical attack on a growing problem of street gangs at bus stops.

This week speakers are being installed to transmit classical music from KING FM radio of Seattle at the Tacoma Mall Transit Center, a tactic designed to reduce the number of young hooligans who deal or buy drugs at the bus stop or use public transportation as an easy way to circulate between the mall and other trouble-prone places.

If the orderly strains of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven succeed in reducing disorder at the mall, speakers tuned to KING FM may be installed at more bus stops, said Rod Baker, the transit agency's chief of public safety.

"We want to create an atmosphere that is safe for our passengers," Baker said. "If this has an impact on encouraging people to move elsewhere instead of hanging around and loitering around an area, then why not?"

The alternative is removing covered bus stops that attract drug dealers and loiterers, a stop already taken at some bus stops near the mall, he said.

Studies in other cities indicate classical music deters anti-social behavior at transit centers, Baker said.

Skeptics include Tony Wilson, a Pierce Transit bus driver for 18 years.

"It could do one of two things: It could calm the beast, or it could just stir things up," Wilson said. "I think the reason we don't have music on the buses is that you can't please everyone. It would just cause drama."

Vrahmel Obleanis, 19, playing a Nintendo GameBoy at the mall bus stop, said the effect might be like pushing a lump of crud under the carpet from one end of the room to the other.

"They'll say, This is whack, and go over and hang out at the mall or by Babies R Us," Obleanis said. "The music isn't going to change the attitude of the kids."

Pierce Transit officials are mounting the speakers on bus stop shelter roofs or poles high enough to be out of the reach of baseball bats and clubs.

Nick Kennedy, a 17-year-old bus rider, said others beside gang members might take direct action against a steady stream of divertimentos, scherzos and polonaises.

"So many people who hang around here don't listen to that kind of music," Kennedy said. "They won't like it - any of them."