The Madison Police Department recently employed their newest team member, Frost, a golden retriever who will work alongside MPD’s new Peer Support Officer Brian Vandervest in efforts to improve officer health and wellbeing.
Vandervest was recently assigned to be the MPD’s first permanent peer support officer, a team historically volunteer run. In his permanent position, he will provide relief to officers who have assisted in stressful situations, acting as an outlet to process the traumatic events they may experience.
One of Vandervest’s new wellness initiatives was the introduction of Frost to both the department and himself. Frost has been training with the Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs for the past 3.5 years, learning advanced obedience and social skills.
Sarah Sirios, Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs training director and Frost’s main trainer, told The Daily Cardinal Frost has thousands of hours working in public, proving he will thrive in the work he will do with Vandervest. “He’s constantly been exposed to lots of different environments, stimuli and different people throughout his 3.5 years so far,” she said.
Frost and Vandervest have been training together for about five or six weeks, and Frost will move in with Vandervest’s family at the end of the month for his remaining six months of training.
“We’re moving more in the direction of placing these dogs in the community support roles because they do impact so many more people,” Spirios told the Cardinal, reflecting on the addition of Frost to the police department. “They really do humanize institutional environments that can be really cold sometimes.”
“[Frost] is such an amazing conduit for people to process their emotions, to regulate themselves, lower their heart rate and even to remove themselves from their professional duties for just a second and react like a human,” Vandervest told the Cardinal. “I think that’s one of his true gifts.”
Frost is the first canine in the MPD’s pilot program, but both Vandervest and Spirios have high hopes of adding more clinical therapy dogs in the future.
Staff Writer
