GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) — The newest member of the Gresham Police Department is only 2 years old but is able to provide emotional support for people inside and outside the department.
Tagg is a comfort therapy dog, the first dog dedicated to people’s emotional well being on the Gresham force.
“Our dog’s primary purpose is to address our officers’ psychological needs as well as crime and trauma victims in our community,” Gresham PD Chief Robin Sells said at a Tuesday morning press conference to introduce Tagg.
Officer Ben Costigan, the public information officer for the department, will be Tagg’s primary handler. He said Tagg has already added some levity to morning roll call and added Tagg has potential to help in more significant ways.
“I think this is also going to be amazing for victim interviews, especially for kids because they’re going to be obviously upset about what happened,” Costigan said.
It won’t be uncommon to see Tagg interacting with victims of trauma and crime along with children who’ve seen horrifying things that they’re not quite capable of processing emotionally.
Tagg is a dual purpose dog. He came to Gresham police after being trained as a Guide Dog for the Blind. And he’s already fitting in just fine as the new member of the Gresham Police Department.