Meet Paula

When I was younger I wanted to be in the army, to have a career where you can help other people and make a real difference. As I got older I decided policing was a better option for me and I applied to be in the police academy in Lisbon.

Unfortunately, I didn't pass the tests. Not long after I moved to the UK, and I thought my chances of working in the police had gone. I started a job working in a factory and tried to figure out my next steps.

I decided to attend an open day at UCLan, to see what it would be like to study policing here. I was instantly impressed, the academics explained the differences between the Professional Policing and the Policing, Law Enforcement and Investigation courses. It became clear to me that this was an amazing chance to follow my dreams, and one I couldn't pass up.

One of the opportunities that was shared was working with It's a Penalty. They aim to combat exploitation and abuse across the world and I applied for the role of being one of their student ambassadors. I was successful and worked with them to help raise awareness of human trafficking. I wrote blogs, created a social media campaign, worked on a website and did a talk in front of students at uni.

It was great to be involved in a project with such a powerful message. I am very passionate about raising awareness of human trafficking and teaching people to spot the signs. After this experience I'm planning on choosing this topic for my dissertation next year.

The next steps for me are very exciting. I'm finishing my second year soon and enjoying every moment. I've recently been accepted for another opportunity that my academics made me aware of, an anti-trafficking and modern slavery student advocate role with the Salvation Army. I haven't started yet but I'm looking forward to it.

This course has shown me I can get a career doing what I love. The employment support has put me in a great position and I hope to travel after graduating and work for a border force agency or Interpol.