BLOODS INITIATION CALLS FOR 145 SLASHINGS ON HALLOWEEN MAYBE AN URBAN LEGEND!

Cops across the city are on alert for a Bloods initiation drive that calls for 145 slashings, police sources said Monday.

Word of the potential violence is something of an urban legend and has been a staple of the Halloween season for a decade. But the actual gang bloodshed never has fully materialized, the NYPD said Monday.

"There was an incident in 1995 that gave rise to this annual rumor but has not materialized since then," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman. "It's an annual rumor that has not had a basis in fact since 1995."

Browne said the NYPD will have its "usual presence" at schools, but sources said extra cops in uniform and in plainclothes will be at several different schools as well as parks and other hangouts where students go before and after school.

The increased attention is based on what police have heard from debriefed prisoners and others.Last year, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly tried to defuse similar fears of gang violence, calling Halloween "the season of rumors."