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Apr. 4—A person with whom Cumru Township police have had frequent combative encounters was having another mental health issue.

In prior incidents involving the same person, police were forced to use some degree of force to get him into the ambulance when attempts at persuasion failed.

This time, the outcome was different.

Patrolman Shawn Heatley said this time, almost immediately after he introduced his new partner to the individual, the person's combative demeanor changed.

Heatley's partner, Oliver, is a dog, the first four-legged member of the new Cumru K-9 unit.

Oliver is not a traditional K-9. He isn't trained for building searches, crowd control or apprehending fleeing suspects.

Oliver's a therapy dog.

That incident happened shortly after Oliver, a Bernedoodle — a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle — arrived about three months ago.

It was just the type of scenario Chief Madison Winchester envisioned when he began researching the use of therapy dogs in policing a few years ago.

"There's no way of quantifying the situations that he's made a difference, but in that situation I think I can say he made a difference," Winchester said.

Heatley said having the K-9 partner makes his job feel more meaningful.

"Every time we're responding we're affecting change in somebody," he said, "and to be able to affect change in a positive way in a person who's having the worst day of their life, and to be able to build that rapport with them through a therapy dog, makes my job more meaningful."

Heatley said he uses Oliver as a bridge for communication with suspects and victims and relationship-building in the community, a critical component in the department's community policing strategy.

"When I show up with Oliver it (the police response) is not so much of a negative meaning anymore," he said.

In situations involving mental health symptoms severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital —voluntarily or involuntarily — Oliver is especially valuable.

"It can be used as a tool to be able to get them on the ambulance, that's the end goal," Heatley said.

"I find that a lot of times it's in the delivery of the deployment of the K-9," he said. "So it's all in how I speak on behalf of Oliver that affects how the interaction goes.

"AlI have to do is say: 'Listen, I'm here to help you. I have my partner. His name is Oliver. He's a K-9. He's strictly here to help you, to help you get through anything you're going through.' And a lot of times that automatically brings a person down."

Oliver can also be used as a disincentive by merely threatening to take away the cuddling dog if the subject stops cooperating.

"I told this person, 'Listen, if you start causing a scene and yelling or anything like that, or make it unsafe for my partner, I'm going to take it away,'" he said, adding the person heeded his warning because he was enjoying Oliver's affection.

Winchester said calls involving people with mental health or emotional problems are on the rise in his department as with other law enforcement agencies.

He envisioned a K-9 unit as a means of breaking down barriers in communication between police and combative individuals in order to de-escalate situations as opposed to a traditional K-9 that is deployed as a means of physical control and intimidation.

"That need is fulfilled in the county already," Winchester said. "They have traditional K-9s where they're a phone call away. This (a therapy dog) was an area that was unfulfilled in the county. We're the first department in Berks County to have a police therapy dog."

Matchmaker

How Cumru police got Ollie is a story in and of itself.

An engineer who does work for the township asked township Manager Jeanne Johnston if she knew anyone who would want a Bernedoodle puppy. He already had an adult dog, and Oliver, being a puppy at the time, was going to be more than he could handle.

Johnston told the engineer that she knew someone who may be interested. She called the police chief, telling him that there's someone she'd like him to meet.

Ollie was just the type of dog Winchester envisioned as a therapy dog.

He told the man, "If you're looking to re-home and repurpose Oliver, this might be a match made in heaven."

Winchester's research showed that temperament, not breed, is the most important characteristic of a therapy dog.

"The only thing I wanted to stay away from was a breed that was (often associated with) a traditional police dog," he said. "I wanted that immediate acknowledgment that this is not an aggressive dog."

As far as training, therapy-dog training is much less extensive and expensive than regular K-9 training.

"We get to realize those benefits immediately and continuously without having to go through the incredible amount of training that traditional K-9s require," Winchester said.

Heatley only had to attend the last day of Oliver's training so he could learn the proper way of handling a therapy dog. Most of the training is done in real-time while on the job, Heatley said.

Interaction with the public reinforces Oliver's demeanor and boundaries, said Heatley, who carries dog treats to give to people to give to his partner.

Helping police

Oliver benefits the department internally as well as externally.

Externally, the therapy dog soothes the emotions of victims of crashes and crimes. Even victims of nonviolent crimes can experience trauma, Winchester explained.

Officers can also be affected by what they've seen or heard from witnesses, but they have to detach their emotions in order to coolly investigate, the chief said.

While in the squad room completing their reports on crashes or critical stress incidents, he said, officers sometimes re-experience the trauma by what they see on their computer screens.

"We see a lot of things that are very traumatic, that we're expected to handle and deal with," Winchester said. "Ollie can come in and just sit with an officer and let him or her pet Ollie and kind of transition through dealing with what they've just experienced."

That can put the officer in a better mood to handle what needs to be done throughout the rest of their shift.