Police departments around the county are under more and more pressure to diversify. In Oakland, Calif., officials say police-community relations also might be improved by increasing the number of cops who actually live in the city.
Margaret Dixon, a fiery retired Oakland police officer, grew up in a rough part of this city of 400,000. These days she's teaching classes at Merritt College, an Oakland community college β including one on policing and community relations.
After 25 years on Oakland's police force, Dixon uses her classes as a kind recruiting ground to get more young people like Manuel Rodriguez to follow in her footsteps.
[For more of this story, written by Tara Siler, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/codes...olice-their-own-city]
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