[NAGDU] FW: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9 officer(Canine Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975)

Wed Jul 24 02:29:06 UTC 2019

Good evening List Members,
When you are sending messages to this list, please indicate why you are
sending them. Though this is a very sweet story about K9 Cop dogs who do
emotional support work (and in these cases it is certainly valuable), these
are not service dogs. I think the story is interesting, but it is off topic.
However, this story does point out an interesting issue. Service dogs have
more privileges and are more able to do things than emotional support dogs.
The dogs discussed here are basically K9 companions or emotional support
dogs; I am not sure they are considered as service animals, though this
article constantly refers to them as such. This continues the muddy waters
faced by blind guide dog users, and other actual service animal users as
well. I suspect the public reads such an article as that and it helps hatch
ideas as to how they can have their precious Fighto be with them at all
times because he can do these things as well.

Cindy Lou Ray, List Moderator
cindyray at gmail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Madison Martin via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2019 6:39 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Madison Martin <maddymartin at mymts.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] FW: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort.
Departments in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9
officer(Canine Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit
founded in 1975)

-----Original Message-----
From: Lillian Scaife [mailto:lmscaife at charter.net] 
Sent: July-23-19 12:41 AM
To: chat at guidedogusersinc.org
Subject: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments
in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9 officer(Canine
Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975)

from Los Angeles Times Metro Section 2019 07 22

A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments in the state are
embracing a different breed of K-9 officer By Colleen Shalby.. 

The most recognizable police dogs are those that can sniff out drugs and
bombs, or the tough K-9s that can take down a suspect with their teeth.
Scottie, Raider and Meredith are not that kind of dog. Their mission is far
different, and their duty lies with survivors of trauma, witnesses of
tragedy or anyone in need of comfort. 

"Dogs help people in a way that humans may never be able to," said Erin
Lennox, a public safety dispatcher with the Corona Police Department and one
of Raider's handlers. Service animals trained to provide emotional support
have been popping up at hospitals, nursing homes and college campuses
throughout the country. In law enforcement, they're still an uncommon breed,
but their numbers are growing. 

Many of these so-called facility dogs come from Canine Companions for
Independence, a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975. 

The group has placed 19 dogs in criminal justice jobs across the Southwest.
Three are attached to police stations in Southern California. The first in
the state -- and one of the first police facility dogs in the country -- was
Scottie, a golden retriever who began working with the Hawthorne Police
Department in 2012. The 9-year-old K-9 was called into duty in April after a
horrific shooting. During a child-custody exchange outside the station, a
mother was killed in front of her 17-month-old son. That night, Scottie
slept alongside the boy in a Police Department room filled with books and
stuffed animals. "He's there to be a comfort. It's wonderful to see him
work," said Scottie's handler, Officer Lameka Bell. 

When Bell got Scottie seven years ago, many officers initially dismissed the
idea of bringing on a dog tasked solely with trauma support. "You don't
bring lovely, happy animals into a police department. It's always the big
guns," Bell said. But Scottie has since become a valuable member of the
force. Every morning, he and Bell visit each office, from the records
department to the mailroom, with stops at the gang unit and the jail, where
Scottie is greeted with hugs and smiles and the occasional treat. Some days
are light. The partners might attend community outreach events, such as
coffee with a cop, a trip to a school or a hospital tour. Others are more
difficult. 

Scottie sometimes will sit with children of abuse who've been brought in to
take photos of their bruises. Occasionally, he'll accompany a woman into a
room as a rape kit is performed. "We work the hotline at YWCA. If a person
calls in who's been raped, we meet them at the rape center," Bell said.
"Scottie goes into the room and sits with the victim. The woman is given
control over Scottie's leash while a doctor examines her. 

The dogs are free through Canine Companions, but the application process
often takes more than a year. 

Extensive training ensures each dog has the right temperament. Once on the
job, facility dogs are regularly checked to ensure that the stress of their
work doesn't affect them. "We've been together long enough where I know when
he's had enough," Bell said of Scottie. "You don't want to tire or agitate a
dog. When they're off the clock, the dogs live with their handlers as pets,
playing fetch or lounging with the rest of their humans. They also get
plenty of attention and rest throughout their workday. 

Initially there wasn't a blueprint for how these kinds of dogs should be
used at a police station, but by the time Raider and Meredith came around,
Bell was able to consult. Raider joined the Corona Police Department in 2018
and has assisted on some tough cases. 

For more than a year, as prosecutors laid out the horrifying abuse of 13
children at the hands of their parents, the 3-year-old yellow Labrador
retriever was a steadfast presence, both in and out of the courtroom. Amid
the weighty conversations of neglect by David and Louise Turpin, who pleaded
guilty to more than a dozen felony counts involving the torture and
imprisonment of their children, the siblings came to rely on Raider's
companionship. At the request of the children, who at the time of their
parents' arrest ranged in age from 2 to 29, the dog bore silent witness as
their mother and father were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in
April. Adam Roulston, a Corona police patrol sergeant and one of Raider's
handlers, said that while it's up to the trainers to decide where to take
their dogs, he's learned the dogs usually decide which person to approach.
When everyone else is focused on the primary victim, Raider often heads in
the direction of someone experiencing secondary trauma. "He'll lay on their
feet or sit on them. Then they'll break down," said Roulston, who learned of
police facility dogs after reading about Scottie. 

Meredith, a 3-year-old yellow Lab who joined the Redondo Beach Police
Department in 2017, spends most of her time with teenagers who have faced
their own traumas. The dog has been a steady presence inside a Redondo Beach
high school. She and her handler, Sharon Rose, a community services K-9
specialist, are typically stationed inside an office at the school. Rose
said that once students realized Meredith's job wasn't to monitor their
activity, trust was established. Visitors now frequently stop by the office
to sit with Meredith, taking a momentary reprieve from their daily stresses.
The Lab has also been a source of comfort to the grieving. 

In November, Rose took Meredith to a memorial service in Thousand Oaks after
the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill that killed a dozen
people. "It's nice to provide people with that mental break you need in the
middle of tragedy," she said. 

At a recent funeral for a Montebello police officer, mourners were met by
two particular guests. Outside the church, those in attendance made their
way to Scottie and Meredith. Some bent down, nose-to-nose with the dogs in a
moment of laughter. Others mindlessly patted the tops of their heads, wiping
their eyes behind sunglasses. The dogs didn't know the sound of bagpipes
indicated the start of the service, the finality of goodbye. They didn't
know the dark clothes of their new friends signaled the somber occasion. As
the crowd filed inside, the two sat patiently, as good dogs do, ready to
ease the burden of their fellow officers and loved ones. 

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