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. >> i never saw a black female police officer growing up. >> in one of the most dangerous jobs. >> this job in particular you putter life on the line every single day. >> inside the groundbreaking and grueling program. will they all make it to graduation? >> so what you all have to do is be the change you want to see. you have to be. >> this special edition of "nightline," "the recruits," will be right back. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?!

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>> announcer: "nightline: the recruits" continues. here now, byron pitts. green pickup truck in front of me. >> how are you doing today, sir? >> reporter: a routine traffic stop involving these two men. >> thank you.

i need backup. >> reporter: but the driver isn't cooperating. the situation quickly escalates. >> i just need to go. >> reporter: becoming dangerous. >> my driver's license and i'll get out of here. >> put your hands 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? >> guys, we talked about this. we have to be observant on our traffic stop. >> reporter: this is missouri's lincoln university, an hbcu, one of the 107 historically black colleges and universities in america. >> tomorrow will be physically demanding. >> reporter: and these young men and women, the inaugural class, in the very first police academy at an hbcu. >> a lot of jobs are stressful. but this job in particular puts your life on the line every single day. >> reporter: a groundbreaking program born out of necessity. today 66% of police officers in america are white. if those numbers are to change,

lincoln university is hoping to lead. >> you can't help how other people see you. and how other people see you, that's their problem. >> reporter: chief gary hill is one of the co-founders 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%. while recruitment is down 5%. >> give me the elements of causing a catastrophe. what is it? misdemeanor or felony? >> misdemeanor. >> reporter: lincoln's first class has nine recruits. >> class a felony. >> 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 in the final weeks 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 from 5:00 at night till 10:00 in the evening and 8:00 to 5:00 on saturdays. so we're putting in 32 hours. >> this is flash cards. to help me learn faster. >> reporter: college sophomore teaja fairley is the youngest in the class. >> i don't have an outside life. i miss all the school events. being in this police academy, i miss having fun with my friends. i miss 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

chasing somebody someday. so yeah, i've got to stay fit. i feel like all officers need empathy. >> hello, sir. >> you just don't no what somebody else is going through. >> can i get your license and insurance please, sir? >> i just got off from work. i'm just trying to go home. >> that day you're talking to them could be their worst day. >> reporter: black women are among the most underrepresented groups in policing, making up just 2.7% of the force nationally. >> i never saw a black female police officer growing up. i am kind of proud of myself that i could be the face and the voice for girls like me like yes, you can do this. you've just got to push forward and do what we want to do. don't let knob snobody stop us. >> reporter: how can you be something you can't see? >> that's where a lot of my doubts came from. like can i be a good police officer? i don't know. nobody to look up to. i've got to be my own role model really. >> reporter: what do you think it will mean when you come

across that first brownfaced little girl who sees you and sees someone who looks like her? >> oh, my gosh. that would be amazing. i kind of wish i would have saw that. i don't know. i'd probably cry or something. >> reporter: every other sunday teaja makes the 2 1/2-hour drive home to see her family. the eldest of four, the siblings are tight-knit. >> when i turn 21, i'll be a police officer. how do you feel about that? >> i think it's cool. >> it's just something that i want to do, that i want to see a change in. anybody wanting to be 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 still 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've 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 disrespectfully. just because i was wearing a police uniform. >> reporter: it's investing in recruits from communities like teaja's that's essential to the chief's mission. >> so what you all have to do is be the change you want to see. you have to be. >> good 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 we have active shooter. >> reporter: chief hill oversees a staff of 22, yet still patrols the campus himself. >> thank you. >> reporter: and in his down time is working toward his doctorate in criminal justice. >> we really should have started on this a long time ago. i'm going to be up all night tomorrow. >> 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 this police work has meant his family hasn't seen 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 you know, if they could do it back in 1866 we can do it now. >> reporter: it's that loving and legendary ability and commitment at hbcus to nurture and empower students chief hill believes will be the secret sauce in the police academy's success. >> talk about part of the uniqueness of the hbcu

experience. the sense of family, the 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 and half white. what better place to have an academy but here? >> reporter: how does that change the dynamic, do you think, for the white students as well as the black students? >> when you're in a group where you never really hang around black people and 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 things with a different color lens. >> university police department. are you all right? >> reporter: at 37 years old chris cade is the oldest in the class. he's an army vet who served in iraq. >> be right there. 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: tyrese 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 >> reporter: it's a grind with a goal. >> the bad officers and what

they do really can affect what i can do because now i've got to push harder. everybody's looking at me sideways because of the wrongful stops and wrongful killings. a lot of the killings that officers do could have been prevented if you just de-escalate the situation. it don't got to get that far. >> reporter: with just a few weeks to go before final exams, the pressure is on for all the recruits to go hard or go home. >> now it's like the jitters. >> reporter: coming up, the big day arrives. will it be a pass or fail? >> i'm so nervous. >> reporter: and will all nine recruits graduate? s evs survived the north pole? ♪ and one can go 0-60 in 2.8 seconds... ♪ and they're all emission free. but don't get an ev for the “e”... ♪ get it because it pins you to your seat... ♪

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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. >> you're going to be okay? >> the work isn't just hard. it's historic. >> indexing scenario. >> reporter: 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 hbcu. they train 32 hours a week. >> one down. >> reporter: on top of their regular college workload. firearms instruction. physical conditioning. classroom work. hoping to become police officers. >> me being a police officer, it's what i want to do but it's also building that bridge for me

to make her life better. >> reporter: college junior davion ward calls himself an unlikely police recruit. like the disproportionate number of men of color in america, his earliest experience with a cop was negative. frightening. >> when i hear police officers, sirens go off while driving, i think it give me anxiety because i don't know if they're going to pull me over. >> reporter: that fear was instilled at an impressionable age when at 14 davion says he was stopped by a police and handcuffed on the street because he supposedly matched the description of a suspect. >> i thought of a police as 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 wahuliatin ts reallas e ccked ta i should join law enforcement and become a police officer so i could be that person of change.

>> when it comes to like police presence it's like i think it should be more empathy. you can say like tactical empathy. >> i've never heard that phrase before. tactical empathy. explain that to me. >> showing like concern for a person. to make sure you're in a safe person yourself but at the same time showing that individual that you're here to help them. >> i may in fact be here to arrest you but i can also be here and treat you like a human being, i can treat you with respect. >> exactly. >> reporter: something you were denied as a 14-year-old boy when the police detained you. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: now as a police officer it will be in the back of your mind, you can apply that tactical empathy. >> yes. >> reporter: but first he and the rest of the recruits need to pass today's final exam. aural class attracting the attention of local media, adding

even more pressure. >> okay, guys, it is 5:00. >> reporter: all cell phones are put away. >> check your computers, make sure we're not having any computer issues or problems. >> reporter: and 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. they're just going over the answers before they hit the submit button. >> reporter: tyrese davis is one of the first to finish. >> hopefully i'll pass and i'll get to go start somewhere. i don't have to take the whole academy all over again. >> reporter: teaja fairley is next to come out. >> i've still kind of 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. >> i'm very proud of the way they studied and finished out the program. >> reporter: the brotherhood that's emerged including with the chief is raw and empowering. >> it's all good. >> reporter: i ask this question as a parent. for all those parents in the world who say why the hell are you recruiting my child to be i acop? all the sacrifice i made to send my child to college. >> it is still a noble profession. and 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 and being part of your community. [ applause ] >> reporter: a determination to serve community is precisely

what's led all these recruits on this journey. and today to their graduation. >> davion [ cheers and applause ] >> 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 circumstances. >> 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. [ cheers and applause ] >> what do you think of having a

law enforcement officer in the family? >> reporter: davion's mother believes this class will make a difference. >> i'm proud of them. we need more like them. >> 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. because 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 allhatilicg era.but they have no doubt they

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