In an exclusive interview, News 12 sat down with an NYPD officer aiming to keep Brooklyn youth off the street with the help of her unique talent.

By day, Detective Makiah Brown works as a strategy affairs officer in the department's Community Affairs Borough. At night, she's become known as the "Opera Cop," teaching children in the East New York neighborhood how to sing opera and play the piano.

The NYPD says she's the first to ever do it. For the past eight years, Brown has taught lessons free of charge inside their community center at 127 Pennsylvania Ave. She says it's a way to expose Black and brown children to the universal language of music while also opening doors to opportunities they didn't think were possible.

Brown's classes are taught twice a week at the community center. Students can be enrolled at the center on Thursdays at 5 p.m. and all day on Saturdays.