Today's Article

"Our community deserves our officers to be well and to be taken care of."

In a career that 2demands 3mental toughness, staff say Chief Jason Jeffcoat is making sure the 4wellness of his officers doesn't 5take a back seat.

"Law enforcement 6deals with a lot of 7cumulative stress. Chief Jeff goes really big on wellness and I think that's 8demonstrated in everything from our gym on campus, to our9 peer support team that helps our employees through tough times."

When chief's executive assistant pitched the idea of an 10emotional support animal, he decided to 11give it a shot.

"We're always trying to look for an idea that may be working somewhere else and bring it here. And so we learned that other agencies in the state do have an emotional support dog and it has a lot of benefits for their employees."

Now, Monte, a one-year-old spaniel mix from the Sherman Animal Shelter, has found a new home on the thin blue line.

"We got Monte in late July, early August, and so for the last six months he's been going through some training. He recently completed the first phase of that training, but he has additional training and tests he has to go through to be an emotional support dog."

Monte may still be in training for his official title, but he's already 12wagging his way into the hearts of officers.

"You see this little guy 13roaming around our hallways. I don't know how it couldn't brighten your day a little bit. So far so good, and we're excited for him to get a little more training, and help with the overall wellness around here."