Carroll State?s Attorney Jerry Barnes gives at least one employee around his office a long leash.
The purple cord actually drags behind Buddy, a therapy dog who helps relax child victims, as he makes his way around the office.
Several therapy dogs work at child advocacy centers in the Baltimore area , but Buddy, a 9-month-old mix between a Labrador retriever and a Newfoundland, helps adult and child victims in the court system, Barnes said.
Gov. Martin O?Malley will award Barnes and Carroll Victim Witness Assistance Unit Director Joyce Schaum next week for their innovation.
Buddy turned what would have been a grueling experience into a fun time for one child forced to recount to prosecutors the episodes of physical abuse she suffered at the hands of a family friend, Schaum said. “He can reach people who other people can?t reach.”
With one hand tussling his puffed-out, curly, black fur, the girl was able to tell prosecutors her story.
“He was wonderful,” the child?s mother said of Buddy. “My daughter loved him. I had such a good time, considering the circumstances. My daughter couldn?t have had a better time at Chuck E. Cheese.”
“It gives them something to look forward to instead of dread,” said Kelley Galvin, the prosecutor who met with the girl, whose name is held because she is a minor.
Schaum hopes to train Buddy enough so she can take him into courtrooms during trials to soothe victims and families who may be seeing offenders for the first time.
But Buddy doesn?t just help victims; he helps prosecutors and others in the office deal with the crime they delve into every day. All he has to do is enter the room and it brightens victims? and workers? days, Schaum said.
“If I have an emotionally draining phone call, I go get my Buddy fix,” said Sarah Rickter, a domestic violence coordinator in the victim witness unit.
Buddy?s bones, stuffed sheriff doll and stuffed bear scattered on the floor around her, Schaum said, “It?s much more humane when your dog?s here.”
