GI's On 911 Duty in Kosovo

In Kosovo, American soldiers are frequently answering the calls to 911, CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen reports.

With Serb police gone, the American army's rapid reaction force is adjusting to their new situation-they've become the new Kosovo 911. Combat-trained GIs now travel with plastic handcuffs as well as guns. They're the only law in town.

U.S. soldiers answered a 911 call to find a blazing house, possible arson, one faction burning out the other. The soldiers handcuffed the two fleeing suspects and hauled them into their truck.

Increasingly, the calls for help are coming from places like this one. This is the village of Pasjana, 100-percent Serb, where people say they are afraid they're the targets of terrorism, afraid even inside their own homes.

In this satellite TV age, even Serbs in small villages can watch on TV as protesters call for Slobodan Milosevic's resignation. Their protector can no longer help.

Just outside of town, after a brutal ambush, Serbs call in the Marines.

Maj. Terry Trenchard asks the Serbs, "Do you know where the attack came from, the shooters?" Maj. Trenchard is suddenly a detective, the Columbo of Kosovo, on a murder hunt. In this incident, one Serb victim is dead and two are wounded.

"This is pretty much basically a murder investigation," says Trenchard. "This is a criminal act of the highest order."

His detective work pays off. The Americans find AK47 shells, and he well knows the motive for the Albanians who opened fire.

They're just bent on getting revenge: Murder, arson, looting. The people around here, Albanians and Serbs alike, rely on the Americans to answer the call, to Kosovo, 911.