“Love thy neighbor” was a commandment ingrained in Aida Marcial, ’02, from a young age. Raised in a tight-knit Catholic family, she said, “service was always in my head and my heart.”

That strong desire to serve led her to a career in law enforcement, where she worked her way through the ranks in narcotics, homicide, and special victims with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. Marcial found her true calling while working with special victims, eventually branching out on her own to become one of the premier international investigators of child abuse and human trafficking cases.

Challenging doesn’t begin to describe her work. Investigating the horrific actions of child predators—often in countries with what she describes as “insidious police, political corruption, and dysfunctional justice systems”—can break down the most resilient officers. But Marcial finds strength in her call to serve.

“My faith drives me every day. We all have a calling in life, and everyone’s call is different,” she said. “When you hear God calling you, you have to pay attention and respond.”

Marcial was in the restaurant business when she began attending La Salle with a desire to work in law enforcement. About three years into earning her bachelor’s degree on a part-time basis, she had the opportunity to work for the prosecutor’s office. “Working in the field and going to school lent itself to a better understanding of the material,” she said. “You get it more; you get what you’re reading. I was applying not just what I was reading, but what I was experiencing.”

After graduating from La Salle and subsequently attending the Camden County Police Academy, Marcial was thrown into the streets as an undercover narcotics operative. She became the first undercover Latina investigator to work in the Narcotic Task Force, and her work helped to take down a major drug cartel. She eventually worked for the homicide unit and became the first woman to be promoted to sergeant in the history of the homicide unit.

“My faith drives me every day. We all have a calling in life, and everyone’s call is different.” —Aida Marcial, ’02

Marcial served many tours in many units, including three tours in the Child Abuse Unit—her last as Commander of the Child Abuse Unit. Out of all her investigative and supervisory assignments, she seemed to develop her greatest passion for her work in child abuse investigations.

When Marcial left the Prosecutor’s Office in 2011 to work for a faith-based organization called International Justice Mission, she found her experience from the Child Abuse Unit easily merged with the more widespread international human trafficking cases.

Two years later, she started her own global justice investigation company, working on child abuse, human trafficking, and sexual assault cases at home and abroad. Each country, each city presented new challenges. “Human trafficking around the world has its own set of cultures, rules, and heroes. In order to understand fully the complexities and nature of the work, it is important to know your audience in every country,” she said.

Regardless of where her work takes her, the victims’ emotions always seem the same. Despair and hopelessness is a resounding theme for victims of human trafficking and child abuse in any country, she said.

“After 25 years (in law enforcement), of course it affects you; how could you be human if it didn’t? These are crimes against humanity,” Marcial said. “However, one has to look at it clinically—there’s a problem, let’s try to fix it. All I can do, with the help of many colleagues in the field, is to employ my God-given skill sets through a proper investigation and demonstrate His love through personal compassion.”

Editor’s Note: Due to the confidential nature of her often-undercover work, and to protect her safety and the integrity of her investigations, we have honored Aida Marcial’s request not to have her photograph appear in the magazine or online.

Read a firsthand account of Marcial’s recent trip to Bolivia and the work she did with Bolivian police and local Catholic leadership to defend and extend human rights.