(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An Illinois law enforcement agency is welcoming its first ever therapy dog to boost officer mental health.
Two-year-old border collie Trooper has only been with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board for a couple months but is already making an impression on officers.
"We have found actually, when Troopers is on site, that they will stop their test, come out and pet Trooper for a few minutes, just to kind of relieve some stress and then they'll go back in and take the test," said Jennifer Wooldridge who is the ILETSB Deputy Director and Trooper's handler.
She says Trooper, provided by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, is the agency's first CIT, or Crisis Intervention Team, therapy dog.
He's traveling throughout Illinois to work with officers, including cadets at the police academy and those in crisis intervention training programs.
Wooldridge says the agency hopes to expand the program and bring even more CIT therapy dogs for use across the state.
"If anytime someone needs a dog to come to a school or a hospital, to a critical incident for an officer or a specific training, that we are able to deploy a dog around the state, that it's not just Trooper."
Trooper was first found tied to a pole in Cicero and eventually he was moved to therapy dog training with Cook County Sheriff's Office.
"They said Trooper was actually available for adoption. So we met Trooper and fell in love with him and this past April we actually adopted him."
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