Meet Lily, a 5-year-old Beagle/Corgi mix who was rescued from a kill shelter in Florida. She was then enrolled in the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s “Paws & Stripes College,” a program where inmates train rescued dogs to be PTSD dogs, therapy dogs, or child-victim-advocate dogs. She’s now moved on to assisting crime victims. After graduating from Paws and Stripes’s Law Enforcement Investigative Therapy Dog Course, she was given to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) for free to help comfort victims of violent or sensitive crimes.
Lily came to the MCSO in May 2017 and has since become a fully certified therapy dog and has been working out in the community.
Lily and her handler, Detective Janeen Henley-Freeman who’s MCSO’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) Investigative Liaison, mostly focus on assisting with the victims of adult and children DCF investigations, missing persons, sex crimes, child abductions, and child exploitation internet crimes.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods has already seen the benefit of working with Lily. According to him:
“We’ve seen an enormous difference since we began using Lily to help us with our more sensitive investigations. We’ve had children who have experienced horrific crimes open up to us because Lily made them feel comfortable. When Lily walks into a room, she brings a sense of joy and comfort with her, and we know she will make a tremendous difference in the lives of our crime victims in Marion County.”
Toledo, United States.
