tonight, the first-ever police academy at an hbcu. >> someone has to make sure your mom's safe, your sister's safe, your brother's safe. why should it not be you? >> hoping to change the face of policing in america. >> license and insurance please, sir. police officer growing up. - >> in one of the most dangerous jobs -- >> this job in particular, you put your life on the line every single day. >> inside the ground-breaking and grueling program. will they all make to it graduation? >> you have to be the change that you want to see. you have to be. >> this special edition of "nightline," "the recruits," will be right back. cushiony softness, has so much it's hard for your family to remember they can use less.

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with hyper-gig speeds. i didn't know you went to this school we have a lot in common. live like a gigillionaire with at&t fiber, now with speeds up to 5 gigs. limited availability "nightline" "the recruits" continues. here now, byron pitts. >> 224. pickup truck in front of me. >> reporter: a routine traffic stop involving these two men. >> i just need my information back.

>> i need backup. >> reporter: the driver isn't cooperating. the situation quickly escalate. >> i need backup. >> i just need -- >> back up. >> reporter: becoming dangerous. >> i need my driver's license and i'll get out of here. >> put your hand behind your back, please. >> reporter: an ambush. had it been real, the outcome could have been fatal. >> who's the backup officer? >> i am. >> what was called in? >> guy, we talked about this. traffic stops. observant on - >> reporter: this is missouri's lincoln university, an hcbu, one of the historically black colleges and universities in america. >> tomorrow will be physically demanding -- >> >> reporter: these young men and women the inaugural class in the first police academy at an hbcu. >> this job in particular puts your life on the line every day. >> reporter: a groundbreaking program born of necessity. today 71.5% of police officers in america are white. those numbers are to change, lincoln university is hoping to

lead. >> you can't help how other people see you. how other people see you, that's their problem. >> reporter: chief gary hill is one of the cofounders and principal instructor. why is it important at this moment in our nation's history to have this program? >> law enforcement agencies across the nation have been pulling their hair out, trying to figure out a way to recruit more minorities. and this has never been tried. >> reporter: from coast to coast, police departments are struggling to recruit new officers and retain veterans. nationally, retirements are up 45% in policing. resignations up 18%. recruitment is down 5%. >> here are the elements of causing a catastrophe. what is it? misdemeanor or felony? >> reporter: lincoln's first class has nine recruits. >> class "a" fallny. >> reporter: their success could help change the face of policing. it's a model other hbcus are considering. >> i would love to see where we can go from here.

>> reporter: the academy is a rigorous six-month program. most of these recruits are also full-time students, juggling a college workload with the rigors of police training. we met them last summer. the stress was palpable. >> move! >> reporter: the weight of history, the high anxiety of final exams, pass and go on -- fail and go home. >> our academy is 5:00 at night to 10:00 in the evening, 8:00 to 5:00 on saturdays. we're putting in 32 hours. >> this is flash cards to help me learn faster. >> reporter: college sophomore tiaja farrelly is the youngest in the class. >> kicking my tail. i don't have an outside life. it's all the school events. i miss having fun with my friends, birthdays, all type of celebrations. >> reporter: almost all of her time is dedicated to making it as an officer. >> it's so important for me to work out because i might be

tackling somebody someday. got to stay fit. >> hello, sir. >> you don't know what somebody else is going through. >> can i get your license and insurance please, sir? >> i just got off of work, i'm just trying to go home. >> that day, you talking to them could be their worst day. >> reporter: black women are among the most underrepresented groups in policing, making up 2.7% of the force nationally. >> i never saw a black female police officer growing up. i am kind of proud of myself, actually, that i could be like the face and the voice for girls like me. like yes, you could do this. we've just got to push forward and do what we want to do, don't let nobody stop us. >> how can you be something you can't see? >> exactly. that's where a lot of my doubts came from. can i be a good police officer? i don't know, nobody to look up to, i got to be my own role model. >> what do you think it will mean when you come across that

first brown-faced little girl who sees you and sees someone who looks like her? >> oh my gosh. like -- that would be amazing. i kind of wish i would have saw them, i don't know. i probably would cry or something. >> reporter: every other sunday, tiaja makes the 2 1/2-hour drive home to see her family. the eldest of four. the siblings are tight-knit. >> i want to be a police officer, how do you feel about that? >> i think it's cool. >> this is something that i want to do, that i want to see a change in. actually, anybody being a police officer, they all should be wanting to make a change, at least for the better. >> reporter: her dad tito supports her career choice but worries about her safety. >> i love you. so i don't want nothing to happen to you. i know it's dangerous out there sometimes. just because you got on that badge, it brings problems. i've been a security guard, and i've seen how they treated me. some people treated me with respect, some people treated me

very disrespectfulfully because was wearing a police uniform. >> reporter: it's corrective investing in recruits that's central to the mission. >> you have to be the change that you want to see. you have to be. >> good morning. >> morning. >> come on in. >> this is the fire system. >> reporter: in addition to the academy, this 26-year veteran is also head of the lincoln university police department. >> this is our monitoring station. we're able to completely lock down campus, all the doors and things like that, in case of active shooter. >> reporter: he oversees a staff of 22. he patrols the campus himself. >> received, thank you. >> reporter: his down time is working toward his doctorate in criminal justice. >> i really should have started on this a long time ago. i'm going to be up all night tonight. there are those like me who believe in education, because it makes me a better leader.

i'm able to see things from different perspectives because of my education. >> reporter: throwing himself into that police work has meant his family hasn't seen as much of him in the past year. a sacrifice they've all felt. >> i'm so happy that his dream has come true, because we believe that if you see something wrong in the world, you have to be the change. and that's what he's doing. he's being the change. >> reporter: the chief says he's inspired by those african american civil war vets who in the 1800s pooled their money to help create lincoln university. like every other hbcu born out of grit and grace, to open the doors of higher education and opportunity to african americans. >> i look back at the statues and i say, if they could do it in 1866, we can do it now. >> reporter: it's that loving and legendary ability and commitment in hbcus to nurture and empower students chief hill believes will be the secret sauce in the police academy's success. talk about the uniqueness of the

hbcu experience, this sense of family, this sense of there are people who are going to make sure you don't fail. >> that's what we try to provide here. i'm always a big proponent of pay it forward. lincoln university is probably one of the most diverse schools in the country. our population is half black, half white. what better place to have an academy but here? >> how does that change the dynamic, for the white students as well as the black students? >> when you're in a group where you never hang around black people, now all of a sudden for the next five months, you're in a classroom full of all black people of different ages and from different backgrounds, then you start to see thin is wigs w different lens. >> how are you doing, all right? >> reporter: at 37, chris caid is the oldest in the class. he's an army vet who served in iraq. >> don't get out of that truck. >> there's three white students and six black students. working with them has changed how i look at a lot of different

aspects. because i don't experience life the way they do. so listening to them, it kind of brings out, maybe this dude's been treated wrong. maybe that's why this guy may have this massive attitude, or may be mad, or may be scared. because he's been treated poorly. nowadays, you have to think about that. like chief hill said, you've got to have that empathy. >> reporter: tyrece davis says growing up in baltimore, the messaging was clear. don't become a cop if you're black or a minority. he's the first in his family to go to college, paying for it and the police academy himself. he works full-time on the night shift. >> i work sunday through thursday, 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. pack books all night, 500 or so a week. >> reporter: it's a glind with a goal. >> the bad officers what they do affect what i can do.

now i got to push harder. everybody's looking at me sideways because of the wrongful stops and wrongful feelings -- a lot of the killings that officers do could have been prevented if you just de-escalate the situation, don't let it get that far. >> reporter: with just a few weeks to go before final exams, is the pleasure is on for all the recruits to go hard or go home. >> now is like the jitters. coming up, the big day arriv arrives. will it be a pass or fail? >> i'm so nervous. >> will all nine recruits graduate? le... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer

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♪ the exercise may be pretend but the adrenaline rush is real. for six months these police recruits have been put through their paces. the work isn't just hard, it's historic. this is the police academy at lincoln university in jefferson city, missouri. >> you were able to save the baby. >> reporter: the first of its kind at a historically black college or hcbu. they train 32 hours a week on top of their regular college workload. firearms instruction. physical conditioning. classroom work. hoping to become police officers. >> a huge inspiration for me being a police officer, it's

what i want to do, but it's also building a bridge to make her life better. >> reporter: this college junior calls himself an unlikely police recruit. like the disproportionate number of men of color in america, his first experience with a cop was negative, frightening. >> i hear a police siren go off while driving, it gives me anxiety because i don't know if they're going to pull me over. >> reporter: that fear was instilled at an impressionable age. at 14, daveion says he was stopped by police and handcuffed because he supposedly matched the description of a suspect. >> i thought, oh, police officers is our protectors and i looked up to them. but being in this position as a black man, it changed my whole perspective. >> reporter: he says being forced to sit on the sidewalk was humiliating. >> this really was a moment where in my head, i should join law enforcement and become a police officer so i can be that

person of change. >> when it come to police presence in today's society, there's a lot of aggression. i think it should be more empathy. you can say tactical empathy. >> i've never heard that phrase, tactical empathy, explain that to me. >> showing concern for a person, but make sure you're in a safe position yourself. at the same time showing that individual that you're here to help them. >> i may, in fact, be here to arrest you. i can also be here and treat you like a human being, i can treat you with respect. >> exactly. >> something that you were denied as a 14-year-old boy when the police detained you? >> uh-huh. >> as a police officer, that will be in the back of your mind. >> yep. >> you can apply that tactical empathy. >> yes. >> reporter: first, he and the rest of the recruits need to pass today's final exams. >> one test and it will be all over. >> oh, gez. >> reporter: the allure of this inaugural class attracting the attention of local media, adding

even more pressure. >> it is 5:00. >> reporter: all cell phones are put away. >> make sure you're not having computer issues or problems. >> reporter: the exam begins. they'll need to score at least a 70 to pass. >> we're about two hours into the test. right now pretty much everyone's done. just going over the answers before they hit the submit button. >> reporter: tyrece davis is one of the first to finish. >> happy i'll pass, happy i'll get to go start somewhere. i won't have to take the whole academy again. >> reporter: tiaja is the next one out. >> i've got the jitters, i'm shaking. >> reporter: davion is the last recruit to finish. >> i saw, you fell out of your chair.

>> reporter: all nine recruits passed. >> congratulations, everybody. we did something good. >> very proud of the way they studied and finished out the program. >> reporter: the brotherhood that's emerged, including with the chief, is raw empowerment. >> it's all good. >> i ask this question as a parent, for those parents in the world who are saying, why in the hell are you recruiting my child to be a cop? all the sacrifice i made to send my child to college. >> it is still a noble profession. regardless of whether you want to do it or not, somebody has to do it. someone has to make sure your mom's safe, your sister's safe, your brother's safe. why should it not be you? money isn't everything. if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. if you're out taking care of your community, being part of your community. >> reporter: a determination to serve community is precisely

what led all these recruits on this journey. and today to their graduation. >> davion laurent kenneth waters. we must use our power for good at all times. even when it's hard. your integrity's at stake. be helpful to your communities. no matter what your community circumstance is. >> i'm proud of you. >> no matter where you land a job as a police officer, no matter what that community looks like, empathy to all. respect to all. congratulations, class 01, of lincoln university law enforcement academy. >> the great thing about having

a law enforcement officer in the family? >> good, rl te davion's mother believes this class will make a difference. >> i'm proud of him. we need more like him. >> reporter: ty, the first in his family to graduate college, is ready to start. >> the whole academy experience has put a lot on my shoulders right now. i want to make a difference in society. >> so today you're a proud papa? >> i am. i am. >> how will you measure success? >> i will measure success in three years. to see how many of those recruits are still in law enforcement. and the things that they've experienced and how they feel about law enforcement after those three years. failure in this program will be any of my officers that tarnish the badge that lose their integrity when they didn't have to. nothing is ever worth losing your integrity. >> reporter: these new graduates know full well they are not the answer to all that ails policing

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