Baltimore police have fired one officer and suspended 12 others without pay for at least 20 days for providing off-duty security at an illegal strip show where sexual acts were performed, police officials said yesterday.

"This is not the type of secondary [employment] they should be working," said Sean R. Malone, the department's top lawyer. "Their actions hurt the reputation of the department."

Malone and other police officials declined to name the 13 disciplined officers, many of whom ran away when the strip show - dubbed "exotic basketball" - was raided by city liquor inspectors and internal affairs detectives March 24.

Police officials have described the event as a strip show in which 10 scantily clad women played basketball, flashed the crowd and performed sexual acts with each other and on spectators.

Police fired one officer, who had been on the force for less than a year, because she also had other blemishes on her record. "The probationary officer had not had a good start to her career," Malone said.

Eleven others were suspended without pay for 20 days; another officer, who organized the event's security, was suspended without pay for 30 days. Malone said those officers had no other violations on their records, and their punishments were made final this month after negotiations with the city's police union.

Malone said the officers' main offense was violating rules concerning moonlighting without permission from supervisors. Most did not know what was happening inside the game, and more severe punishment was not warranted, Malone said.

"Everybody cooperated," Malone said. "These officers did not engage in activity that has damaged their credibility or their ability to enforce the law fairly. ... If you take responsibility, there may be consequences. But we're not looking to fire every officer who makes a mistake in judgment."

Gary McLhinney, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, said the penalties were tough but fair.

"I'm glad we were able to work this out with the department," McLhinney said.

McLhinney said that "some of the officers made an honest mistake, and now they are paying for it."

Samuel T. Daniels, chief inspector for the city liquor board, whose inspectors helped investigate the strip show, agreed. "The officers will become better officers from this lesson," he said.

The strip show was organized and held at the Teamsters Assembly Hall in the 6000 block of Erdman Ave. by Robert Davis, 38, owner of Stick Together Productions, who installed portable basketball hoops for the game.

Davis paid 13 officers $150 each in cash to provide security at the event, which he advertised on fliers showing the back of a woman who was wearing a thong. The advertisement said that women from Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Baltimore would be playing.

Davis, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, charged patrons $25 to enter and offered to give other officers a $10 discount if they showed their badges. Police officials said yesterday that they were unable to find officers who attended the game as spectators.

Three women were charged by police with performing "perverted practices" during the game. "Every time one of the strippers would foul another during the game they would have to do something exotic," police wrote in documents charging one of the women. The three were sentenced to probation before judgment.