We take a ride with the Roseville police in the March 13 issue’s special section on the Student and the Law. Cruising side streets and parking lots in an unmarked squad car, the three-hour ride with a Roseville police Sergeant is uneventful -- a burglar alarm is triggered accidentally at a Roseville ski shop, a couple parked behind a church is surprised by a police flashlight and told to move on. But the comments by officers interviewed reflect what was happening in America in the 1960s, which saw police-community relations at a breaking point after riots Chicago, Watts and North Minneapolis.

Like police departments around the country, Roseville sent its officers to sensitivity training in the late 60s, which included conversations with minority groups. “It isn’t easy for you to sit and listen to a black leader, and hear him say we’re going to tear you apart,” confides one Roseville officer. Those sessions, he says, served to polarize the groups even more. Yet Roseville in 1970 seems insulated from the social issues that plague the urban core. “The worst enemy of the policeman is boredom. Most the time there isn’t that much happening,” he says.

The section on the Student and the Law includes a review of the rights of juveniles with a Minnesota Civil Liberties Union attorney and a profile of a troubled Roseville student arrested repeatedly for car theft, drunk driving and other crimes.

The theme of student rights and challenging authority dominates this edition -- events made it inevitable. Radical activist David Pence returned to Ramsey to confront the school administration with the support of a petition circulated by members of the student council.