EVERETT, Wash. - Months ago, she was headed toward a life of crime.
But now 15-year-old Everett High School student Kea Drummond wants to wear a badge and drive a patrol car.
Drummond is one of 25 kids participating this week in the Everett Police Department's Junior Police Academy. Students spend the week training with Everett police officers and learning what it takes to be a cop.
At the beginning of the school year, Drummond was hanging out with gang members, using drugs and skipping school.
"She was skipping school frequently," Officer Meg Nelson said. " Hanging out with the wrong crowd."
Then Kea met Nelson, a cop who works at Everett High School. Officer and student began talking, and in time Kea came to trust the woman with the badge.
"Realize hey this person cares about me and maybe I should do something with my life if they say I can," Kea said.
Her life did a 180. Today, Kea's getting "A's" and "B's." She's severed the ties with the gang members, stopped using drugs and attends school every day.
And she has a dream.
"I want to be a crime scene investigator when I grow up," she said.
