She sits in a sea of blue-uniformed police recruits, all strangers. Some are 21, the minimum age. Some are nearly twice that, starting a second career. They have come from California, New York, North Carolina, Minnesota, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and throughout Hampton Roads. Never has a Virginia Beach police class sprung from such far-flung roots.
Women make up a quarter of the class, the highest percentage of any academy in recent memory.
Half the recruits have military experience, and a dozen previously have worked in law enforcement. Pederson's cerulean eyes stare ahead as she thinks about the whirlwind that brought her here. In Morgan, Minn., she was the only patrol officer in a town of 1,000. There was no police academy and little formal training, which was fine because not much happened in Morgan. She had every other week off.