Will County prosecutors unveil comfort dogs to help kids testify
Will County's top prosecutor and chief judge are self-confessed "dog people," so they already know the mere presence of a furry face can make just about any situation better.
But State's Attorney James Glasgow and Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt believe having a dog nearby also can help victims, especially children testifying in sexual assault and abuse cases, relieving some of the stress and trauma that often comes with taking the witness stand.
So it was not a surprise when Schoenstedt recently signed Glasgow's petition to allow prosecutors to use what are called "facility dogs" in the courthouse to help ease the strain of such situations.
"It is seldom that I can take this bench and know in advance that something very positive is going to result from what I do in this courtroom," Schoenstedt said. "This is certainly one of those times."
The program will begin immediately with a team of four trained dogs. Kiwi and Angus are English Labrador retrievers, and Jackson and Malley are yellow Labs.
Animals have been used periodically on a contract basis by prosecutors elsewhere to comfort young crime victims during interviews.
The Lake County state's attorney's office was believed to be the first in Illinois to own a full-time facility dog when it purchased a nearly 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Mitchell in 2015.
Glasgow said he began seeing a need for the facility dogs in 2012 when he was researching how therapy dogs were used at Naperville's Edward Hospital to help speed recovery times for medical patients.
After a conversation with his executive assistant, Cheri Johnson, who trains dogs, they decided to put Jackson to work in the Will County Child Advocacy Center.
Glasgow said the results were nearly immediate.
He recalled one case in which a brother and sister were brought in to discuss the abuse they had suffered. The boy, he said, was able to share details, but all his sister would do was pet Jackson.
"About a week later, she tells her mom, 'Mom, I'd like to go back and play with Jackson and tell what happened to me,'" Glasgow said.
"Now, if Jackson never does another thing, that's one sexual predator that got just deserts and wouldn't have without (Jackson's) interaction with that young child."
When the dogs are in the courtroom, however, state law requires they be out of sight of the jury.
"We wouldn't want a verdict because the jury liked the dog," Glasgow said. "So the dog will be out of sight and the child will be in contact with the dog."
Angus came to Glasgow's office earlier this year trained to assist people going through several of the county's specialty courts, including veterans court, drug court, mental health court and the Redeploy Illinois court.
"The individuals in those courts are all in various stages of psychological disarray," Glasgow said.
"We're trying to find every resource possible to get people through these courts that are in this very fragile psychological state."
Glasgow also took advantage of a recent introductory event to present Cache, a black Labrador retriever trained to sniff out a proprietary chemical used in electronic memory cards, thumb drives and other electronic devices.
Megan Brooks, the office's chief investigator of crimes against children, has been working daily with Cache for about a month in anticipation of using him to sniff out electronic devices that may be storing child pornography.
"Any time there's going to be records kept on a computer or hardware, Cache will be available," Glasgow said.