UI police therapy dogs finding new ways to help

Mar. 26—URBANA — Few things could've pulled Sadeen Alhalabi's attention off the mid-semester job hunt at her perch in the Illini Union Courtyard on Wednesday.

But the orange vest of University of Illinois Police Department therapy dog Rosie, a 17-pound terrier, read "pet me." Alhalabi obliged.

"It was the highlight of my day," said Alhalabi, a senior. "Petting dogs made me so much happier and more relaxed."

Rosie is one of four I-PAWS Therapy Dogs, along with Kirby, Lollipop and Chief Alice Cary's Archie, who are keeping busy attending student gatherings, campus events and mental health calls with UI police's Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help team.

Their officer handlers say the relatively new four-legged members of the department are a critical resource for both the campus community and their own first responders. Whenever possible, they're try- ing to expand the pups' reach across Champaign-Urbana.

On the department's community-outreach page, residents can now request an advance appearance from one of the therapy dogs by filling out a quick form.

UI visits take precedence, but the canines have already made their way to Gibson City, C-U schools and assisted-living centers, even the offices of nearby police and fire departments, said UI police Detective Tara Hurless, handler of Kirby.

"Nine times out of 10, the words out of people's mouths are, 'You never know what you need until its right there, and I needed this today,'" she said.

Expanding the program was the wish of the late Lt. Aaron Landers, who worked with now-retired Winston, a chocolate Lab. Lt. Landers died in August 2021 after being hit by a drunken driver at the intersection of Prospect Avenue and Church Street while riding his motorcycle off duty.

Hurless intends to make the therapy-dog operation as "self-sufficient" as possible, with the help of an annual fundraiser in Landers' honor.

All proceeds from today's event, "Be Kind & Give Grace," set for 2 to 6 p.m. at City Center on the southern edge of downtown Champaign, will go toward UI police's Community Outreach and Support team.

Saving lives

UI Officer Alex Tran has had the kind, sharp Lollipop by his side since December 2020.

The moments she shined aren't hard for Tran to recall: seeing her play with a family who'd just lost their home in a fire, or the time her presence defused a potentially fatal situation.

Tran got a call on an early Saturday morning that a man in a bus shelter had a knife to his throat and was threatening to take his own life. Another Urbana officer had been negotiating with the man for around two hours, and had found out that the man liked dogs and wanted to see one.

"Give me a few minutes; I'll be there," Tran remembers telling the sergeant.

As soon as Tran turned the corner with his truck, the man dropped his knife, came out of the bus shelter, played with the dog for a bit and agreed to go to the hospital for treatment, he said.

"Truthfully, I didn't do anything — we just showed up," he said.

Requests for the therapy dogs fill up in the dearth of midterms and finals — UI Reading Day is usually one of their busiest. But both Rosie and Lollipop have shown up for residents in dire need of support.

The number of crisis intervention calls UI police received jumped in the last year, from 149 in 2021 to 235 in 2022, said Megan Cambron, the department's crisis-outreach coordinator. Part of this increase could stem from the department entering into a mutual-aid agreement with Champaign police about a year ago, where it now serves as the main patrol and call-taking agency in Campustown, she said, along with more people reporting mental-health concerns.

Tails in the field

Four-year UI Officer Michael Mitrou met Rosie in March 2021 at the Florida training program called Paws and Stripes College.

After being trained in obedience by nonviolent inmates in Brevard County, former shelter dogs spend 40 hours with their new law-enforcement handlers for use in the field.

Mitrou joined UI police's REACH program, a "co-responder" unit that sends a behavioral-health detective and social worker to mental-health crisis calls. Therapy dogs tag along and trot out if called upon.

The first priority is scene safety. If the situation is under control, Mitrou said, the officer may ask the subject if he or she is comfortable with pets and wants to see one.

"Usually, they're responsive to it," he said. "It breaks down barriers of seeing an officer in uniform, this authority figure. You bring this small dog onto the scene and it humanizes you."

On one recent campus call, a student was reportedly having suicidal thoughts. Mitrou's usual REACH partner, social worker Amanda Brockway, was away for training. So it was up to him and Rosie to respond.

"I could tell right off the bat they're terrified. They think they're in trouble because of how they're feeling," he said. "They said to me how scared they were of the police uniform."

When the conversation seemed to stall, Mitrou started over: "My name's Mike, I'm a behavioral-health officer. Would you like to meet my dog, Rosie?"

"This person's face lit up like a Christmas tree," he said.

It was three days before Halloween, so Rosie came out with her costume on. The person began to open up about their life story, Mitrou said, later opting for a ride to a hospital counselor.

"I felt like it wasn't me that made this person comfortable to talk to me," he said. "It was Rosie."

In-house help

Officers have seen the help dogs can provide both externally and for their colleagues, particularly those who've endured a stressful scene.

"They basically pet her for 30 seconds, and it lets them reprogram their brain that, 'OK, everything's all right again,'" Mitrou said. "Internally, it's a huge benefit."

The UI's therapy dogs have visited stressed and grieving police and fire departments, METCAD dispatchers and several funerals for fallen officers.

Cary wanted to bring a therapy-dog program to the department after seeing its success at her previous department at the University of Maryland-Baltimore, the third university in the country to implement them as an engagement tool.

The dogs "aren't just for providing emotional support, stress relief and de-escalation," Cary said. "It's really building those relationships that we desperately need.

"With the size of this campus, there's never enough dogs to go around; as resources present themselves, we certainly would take an opportunity to add more dogs to the program."

Hurless' cold calls to a lint-roller company and dog-food provider Purina ended in both agreeing to supply the UI police pups with food and cleaning supplies.

Even when the dogs get used to blaring sirens and changing environments, they still need downtime. Rosie spends her off-duty time on Mitrou's 3-acre lot with his two other dogs.

When their handlers put on their uniforms, the dogs know it's time for work.

"There's a little bit of adjustment period, but after she gets used to it or gets exposed to it, then it's pretty good," Tran said. "At the end of the day, when I'm driving home from a long call or one of these events, Lollipop is passed out in the back, and you can hear her snoring."