(Enlarge) County Executive Kenneth Ulman and Saquan Eangleheart, 12, a student at Harper’s Choice Middle School, play basketball at Cedar Lane Park with Howard County police officers and other students June 17. The Howard County Police Department unveiled a trailer with sports equipment, games and a grill that they will be taking to public spaces to engage children in positive activities to help deter crime. (Staff photo by Sarah Nix)

Howard County Police are hoping area teens will take some time to get to know them, perhaps over a game of pingpong.

Thanks to a $39,000 anti-gang grant from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the police department has invested in a trailer stocked with pingpong tables, sports equipment, video games and board games that they plan to use to engage county youth.

Throughout the summer, officers plan to take the trailer to areas where teens gather in order to provide recreational activities and in hopes of forming bonds between teens and police, said Lt. Jim Marshall, commander of the department's Youth Services Division.

Ultimately, Marshall hopes those bonds will help deter teens from becoming involved in gangs, he said.

Between June 29 and Aug. 21, the trailer will rotate locations: Mondays at the East Columbia Branch Library, Tuesdays at Savage Park, Wednesdays at Wilde Lake Middle School, Thursdays at Centennial Park North and Fridays at Harper's Choice Middle School, Marshall said. The program will not operate July 13-17 and July 27-31.

"We can actually reach more kids by having this trailer rather than trying to have them come to one central location," Marshall said. "I'm expecting between 40 and 50 kids a day to participate. ... Once the word gets out, I think we're going to have a significant turnout."

The trailer will be staffed with between six and eight School Resource Officers each day, he said.

Marshall said the locations were chosen because of high youth turnout in those areas.

"We looked at areas in the county where teenagers in the county are hanging out regardless of whether we are there or not, and we wanted to engage them in some positive activities," he said.

Modeled on the National Police Athletic League, which engages youth in sports activities, police are trying to build positive relationships with young people and have dubbed the program the Community Athletic Program, Marshall said.

"Essentially our goal is to have positive interactions between youth and police officers because so often our interaction with them is a negative one," he said. "When the summer months are out we get a lot of calls for juveniles, things like loitering and disorderly conduct. This is a way to deal with that."

Although the grant was a one-time allocation from U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod Rosenstein, Marshall said he plans to continue the program in future summers now that the trailer and equipment are set up.

He hopes the program will play some role in helping keep youth out of gangs, he said.

Marshall said the program is in line with the police department's philosophy of community-oriented policing in which police officers engage the community in helping them perform their law enforcement duties.

"We don't want people to be afraid of us," Marshall said.

From the program, he wants young people to "understand that we are here to help, and we are good guys and gals, and we are there for them," he said.

Trailer sites

The Howard County Police's teen activity trailer will rotate locations throughout the county between June 29 and Aug. 21, except for July 13-17 and 27-31. Here's a list of its locations:

Mondays -- East Columbia Branch Library, 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia

Tuesdays -- Savage Park, 8600 Foundry St., Savage

Wednesdays -- Wilde Lake Middle School, 10481 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia

Thursdays -- Centennial Park North, 9801 Old Annapolis Road, Ellicott City

Fridays -- Harper's Choice Middle School, 5450 Beaverkill Road, Columbia

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