Police question the motives of those kids who do hang out in drug neighborhoods.

"We know that that's not just because they're hanging there. They're hanging there for various reasons," says Commissioner Perry L. Anderson.

Teenagers counter that it's the everharassing police, not drugs, that have taken their communities from them. Police should not be able to ask them to leave their own neighborhood corners, especially when no drug transactions are taking place, the teenagers say.

"It makes me feel trapped in an area where I can't do anything without a police car or policeman on foot, walking behind me, turning down the same street I turn," says Jezell R. Harris, 17.

Belinda Augustin, a resident of North Cambridge, says she should be able to hang out with the friends she grew up with, without police interference. "I can't see why you wouldn't want me to talk to him because he's a drug dealer...that person is not always a drug dealer...I see good qualities in him," she says.

Just as a few Black criminals help perpetuate stereotypes about the entire race, a few bad officers contribute to the teenagers' negative perception of the force, police say.

"There are police officers that do overreact, there are bigots in the police department," Lyons says.

"I'm sure there are one or two here who are treating kids [in ways] they shouldn't be treated," Franklin says.

Franklin says he believes those bad officers will eventually be discovered by the department. "Everyone else suffers from these officers," Franklin says. "If they are doing it, then sooner or later they'll be dealt with."

Teenagers, however, say they don't report their experiences to the police department's internal review board nor the civilian review board because they are either too scared or don't believe that reporting these officers will help.

The teenagers say the police close ranks to protect each other from claims of harassment. And at least some officers acknowledge that what the youth say is true.

"A police officer would rather commit perjury than admit [to committing police brutality] to a civilian review board," Lyons says.

The distrust of the police is also exacerbated by cases of mistaken identity. When suspects are described as Black the police are more likely to stop and question, teenagers say. "Some of them get stopped just because they're Black. If the kid fits the description, he's going to be stopped," Detective Franklin says.

Two summers ago, Edwin M. Asamoah, now a senior at Rindge and Latin, says he was walking home to North Cambridge after playing basketball in Somerville when he was stopped and "roughed up" by a city police officer who accused him of stealing a bicycle.

"[The police officer] picked me up by the pants, put his stick to my neck and threw me up against a car," Asamaoh says.