In the Howard edition of The Sun last Sunday, a photo of two teen-agers playing pool was inadvertently published with articles headlined "Violence among youths shows innocence lost in the suburbs." In fact, the articles and photo (above) had nothing to do with each other.
* The Sun regrets the error.
Police and teen-agers in Howard County say they're battling stereotypes and each other.
"They falsely accuse everybody they see," Jason Owens, 14, said of the officers he sees. The Oakland Mills High School student and his friends concede that that they don't cooperate with police.
That kind of attitude is frustrating, said Capt. Richard Hall, commander of the Southern District Police Station in Scaggsville. "But it's human nature," he said. "You're not going to like the person who stops you from doing something you're not supposed to do."
Indeed, many Howard youths interviewed last week said they once thought officers were OK -- until they broke up their drinking parties, snuffed their smoking on school grounds and scattered them from late-night hangouts.
Negative attitudes among county teens who have had confrontations with officers punctuate crime statistics the Howard County Police Department released last week showing a 23 percent rise in juvenile arrests in 1994, juvenile authorities say.
County police say juveniles 13 to 17 are responsible for a growing number of the most serious criminal offenses, including assault, robbery, burglary, theft and auto theft cases.
Standing outside a Burger King off Route 108 in Ellicott City last week with a group of school friends, Howard High School student Ryan Shifflett, 14, acknowledged that he has been in trouble with the police at least once.
He and most of his friends have little good to say about police. Nearby businesses have called police on them a number of times for loitering and disorderly conduct, they say. Rookie officers especially give them a hard time, they say.
"Cops are a pain," said Ryan. "I think they should just leave us alone."
Outside the Burger King, the teens -- boys and girls dressed in flannel shirts, jeans and boots -- appear typical. One, a freckle-faced 15-year-old, is the son of a Howard County police officer. But Matt Moskala said he is treated like everyone else when patrol officers question the teens.
"Cops are pretty cool, except when they harass you," he said. "It's ridiculous. You can't do anything these days without getting into trouble. Whenever you walk in groups, they think you're up to something."
Howard County police may have reason to eye teen-agers with suspicion at times. Last year, the number of youths arrested for larceny rose by 41 percent, to 444 arrests from 314 in 1993. And the number of arrests for burglaries increased 47 percent, to 109 from 74.
Police say part of the increase in the arrests of teens has come because officers are learning more about the juvenile culture. They are learning that peer pressure and images in the media are behind much of it.
"They think it's cool to look at authority and police in a negative manner," said Donna Wilson, coordinator of the Police Department's Youth Services Division. "The pressure is: 'You don't want to be buddies with police.' They see police as close-minded, rigid authoritarian figures."
Matt's father, Cpl. Peter Moskala, a training coordinator for the department, said, "Certainly not all juveniles are bad. We take each situation at face value.
"In order to do our job, we have to be alert and suspicious. If you go along with blinders on, you're not going to get the job done."
Juvenile and law enforcement officials say disrespect toward police reflects many teen-agers' overall animosity toward authority. To combat that, the Howard Police Department has begun several programs.
Police run D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs in county schools to warn youths about the mental, physical and behavioral effects of illegal substances.
Police youth-service coordinators also are working on Cops As Peers (CAP), a program that matches "at risk" teen-agers with police mentors.
Many youths enjoy and benefit from such programs, but some say their experiences with the police make them skeptical. And police say that is usually a key part of the problem.
"Officers go and do their job in a professional manner," Captain Hall said. "But the Police Department can't fight the battle alone. The bottom-line responsibility is with the parents."
Corporal Moskala said he encounters the stigmas attached to being an officer each day and that teen-agers' attitudes are hard to overcome.
"They're searching for individuality and their own place in society," he said. "So it's very difficult to make a decision they think is prudent."