Hayley Carroll always knew she wanted to be a lawyer.

After a practicum placement with the Niagara Regional Police Service this year, the Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) major from Peterborough, Ont., honed in on a passion for criminal law — a discovery she credits to a thorough and engaging experiential learning opportunity.

“You definitely get to know how policing looks on paper versus how policing actually is,” she says.

Carroll and other graduating students shared their research and practicum experiences during the FPAC program’s first annual Crime Scenes conference, which welcomed community partners to campus on Monday, April 28.

Program Co-ordinator Samantha MacNeil says the FPAC practicum is designed to be a “career pathway exploration opportunity” that caps off students’ experiences in the interdisciplinary program.

Students presented research posters and infographics for peers, faculty, community partners and family members at the first annual Crime Scenes conference on Monday, April 28 in the Scotiabank Atrium in the Cairns Complex.

“We very much modeled our practical experiences for students to be dual purpose, with the observational background a practicum would typically offer, either job-shadowing or getting to experience the work environment, but also providing students with key pieces of information about making career-related decisions,” she says.

Students had the opportunity to complete their practica at several local organizations, including the Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre, local politicians’ offices and the Peninsula Youth Centre.

For those working with the NRPS like Carroll, the practicum began with online training modules on threat assessment and completing the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment certification. During Winter Reading Week, students also spent two days at the NRPS headquarters with peers from the Advanced Law Enforcement and Securities Program at Niagara College.

The retreat was packed with a variety of information and opportunities for the students, who met with experts on crimes related to opioids, child abuse, sexual exploitation, domestic violence and more. The resident psychologist, Tiffany Hunt (BA ’02), spoke about mental health supports for officers.

Students toured a cruiser and holding cells, hearing a rundown of processes associated with each. They met with the dispatch team and the forensics team, which also created a mock crime scene to walk students through how evidence is collected and processed.

“Most of the people we spoke to from the specialty units started as patrol officers and then eventually made their way through the ranks to become parts of these special tasks forces,” says MacNeil. “I think it opened up students’ eyes in terms of expectations and how a career in policing is built over time.”

The final component of the NRPS practicum was the ride along for each student, two 12-hour shifts, one during the day and one overnight.

Carroll says she had many takeaways from being on the road, including the volume and value of note taking and report writing that goes on in a patrol officer’s day — something she says movies don’t often depict.

“Getting to see those reports and how they were written, what information gets included, what goes to the Crown attorney and what goes to other departments — that was definitely valuable as someone who wants to practice law,” she says.

This spring, Carroll will graduate with a degree in FPAC and a minor in Critical Criminology. She says her NRPS practicum shone a light on many dimensions of policing, and she’ll take that experience with her as she starts her law degree in September.

“The police force was cooperative, willing to answer any question that you had, and if you told them you were interested in learning more about something, they would try to make it happen for you,” she says. “They were really supportive in answering all your questions or explaining things they were doing.”