PC Chloe Martin

My name's Chloe and I'm based at Weston Favell police station. I'm a police constable there and I have been for the last three years.

So, the PCDA is a funded apprenticeship, so you go to uni full-time and you also have a full-time job as a police officer. I joined the PCDA three years ago when I left college. I wanted to get a degree, which was already paid for so I didn't have to worry about student finance, student loan, but also, I was able to get a full time job alongside of it and learn different experiences, so for me the PCDA was the best route that I could do. I've just finished my final exam and, again, year three, the support you get, it’s definitely the hardest year because it's the final exam, it's the final year that you're going to be getting that degree and the support you've been getting from the uni side but also from the police side has been brilliant.

The cohort has been really good, we're all there to help each other. We've all obviously got different academic levels, so the cohort has been there to help us and if we ever struggle with any of the academic side, we always ask each other and everyone's willing to help each other which is really, really good. So, the university has been brilliant with the support, so if you're ever struggling academically or anything they are there to support you and they're there to help you, they want to help you. Obviously, the police trainers here have been brilliant to getting us through all of our training, to help us learn the legislation and get us ready for when we go out on, obviously on to response, and out onto area.

So, at the minute I'm very set on staying on response. I've just got my standard response course where I can now attend grade one emergencies on blue lights so I would like to stay on response for a while and obviously enjoy doing that. I've also just recently become a tutor so I like to bring in new students and obviously pass on my knowledge, but in a few years time I'd like to go and get my detective exam and then go behind the scenes and specialise but at the minute I'm not sure where I want to go but mainly heading towards the Child Protection Team.

I think there's been a lot of proud moments that I've had when I go into different instances, but I think the most proud is when I got my standard response course because I can now attend out, go to grade one emergencies quicker and be able provide my service to other people and obviously gain more proud moments. It's the experiences that you get that Northamptonshire offer for any, obviously, new recruits or officers throughout your policing career, which is what really stood out to me, that the opportunities that I could get by coming to Northamptonshire which is why I chose this force.