The Oak Brook Police Department is planning for a nonhuman addition to its roster this fall.
While the process has started to bring in a new dog for the department’s canine unit, it’s a comfort/therapy dog that will be making a first entry in Oak Brook.
“Other departments are doing it, and it makes a lot of sense for us,” Police Chief Brian Strockis said. He said such a dog would be a wonderful resource for community relations.
“We’d use it for community events and getting out more to our schools,” he said. “It’s another tool to have around.”
Strockis said a comfort/therapy dog would be a great resource in many situations, such as retail thefts for which the offenders have children with them, and the dog could be used to be with the children.
“It would have been great to have a dog last (December) when we had the (Oakbrook Center) shooting, and there were a lot of traumatized workers,” he said. “We’re also very aware of suicides in the police community, in general. A dog like this will be very helpful in a lot of areas.”
After doing some research, the department narrowed its want list to three breeds: labradoodle, golden doodle and sheep doodle.
“We have a ton of options,” Strockis said. “We don’t want anyone’s allergies to come into play, so we definitely want a breed that is hypoallergenic. We probably also want a young dog that can grow with us.”
Strockis said the department’s new comfort/therapy dog would live in a large courtyard area outside of the Butler Government Center in which the police are headquartered.
“We have people here 24/7 to take care of it, so that’s not an issue at all,” he said.
While dogs used in police departments’ canine units to help with law enforcement generally have one officer working as a handler/partner and taking the dog home when off shift, Strockis said that won’t be the case for the new comfort/therapy dog.
“I just want it to be a dog for the department,” he said. “We’ll want the community to know about the dog and know who it is when they see it out in different places. It will be kind of like a mascot.”
Strockis said the move to acquiring a comfort/therapy dog is a positive step for the Oak Brook department.
“We’re doing a lot of old school things, and this could be new and exciting,” he said, adding that he hopes to have the dog by mid-September to begin about six weeks of training.
As for a name for the department’s new dog, Strockis said he likes the idea of coming up with a couple of Oak Brook-related names and letting students at Brook Forest School and Butler Junior High vote on a final choice.
“There are a lot of good reasons for us to do this, so we’re moving ahead with it,” Strockis said.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
