Meet Oakley, Aiken Department of Public Safety’s newest employee
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - FBI numbers show police officers are more likely to die from suicide than in the line of duty.
They tracked numbers from July 2022 to July 2023 and found 52 suicide deaths.
The top factors include relationship problems, depression and burnout, PTSD, or illness.
One of our local law enforcement agencies is doing more to help our first responders, and it involves a new furry friend.
Meet Oakley.
He’s Aiken Public Safety’s newest employee on the block, but unlike other K-9s, Oakley isn’t in training for finding the convicts or drugs. He’s here for hugs and love.
“The intended purpose is mainly just for public safety officers, just the stressors of the job in public safety, wanting to have a therapy dog here for them,” said Public Information Officer Lt. Jennifer Hayes.
From dispatch to police and everyone in between, Hayes says days on the front line are never the same.
“We do see a lot. You can run the gambit from having a very slow, busy day while doing absolutely nothing to have a car chase where you’re running 90 miles an hour all over the city,” said Hayes.
As the days speed up, so do emotions.
“We have to go to fatalities. You could see an accident, child fatality, or a fire fatality here since we do police and fire. I think that’s some of it. Never knowing what you will come across in a day leaves you unable to prepare ahead of time,” said Hayes.
Research from the Department of Justice shows police officers are eight times more likely to die by suicide than homicide.
“Sometimes those types of events just catch people unaware or hit them harder than they normally would. Say a person with a child might take a child fatality harder than someone without kids,” said Hayes.
To make sure their first responders never get to that point, Oakley the therapy pup is answering the call for comfort.
“He will come here every day, and hang out and just be here for people, just anybody who wants to come in, hang out with him,” she said.
Hayes says the Aiken Department of Public Safety offers lots of mental health resources for their officers, but Oakley is a new tool.
“Oakley is just another component of that. He’s not for everyone, everybody doesn’t like dogs. It’s just another tool in our tool belt, you know, for someone having a hard day, they can come to see him,” said Hayes.
Oakley was adopted from the Aiken Albrecht Center. They saved his life and they’re hoping he’ll save others.
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