Officer Richard Simons and Office Heidi of Yale Public Safety

Officer Richard Simons and Office Heidi of Yale Public Safety

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I heard communities. Thank you somuch for listening. I'm Renee Denino,
and you know my saying people andpets, Well, we're kinder to animals,
we're kinder to people. So inour series of reintroducing you to some
incredible canines across the state, wethought we'd start off with one of our
favorite and first timer's, officer richSimons and his partner, officer Heidi from

(00:21):
Yale Public Safety. It's great tohave you in our studios again. Oh,
thank you, Renee for inviting Heidiand I absolutely now. You've done
a lot of work with us overthe past years. You've been involved in
many community events, from people topets, many organizations that support hunger initiatives
in our state, children initiatives,really just getting out there and breaking barriers

(00:42):
between law enforcement and people. Andthen, of course not to mention the
work you do at Yale. Sowhy don't we just reintroduce ourselves today,
right, Well, remind people whoyou are, how you met Heidi,
and what your responsibilities are. Well, thank you very much for Renee.
I started as a police officer atYale years ago and when I started,

(01:02):
I always had the initiative to bringdogs into the community and into Yale public
safety. So what I did wasI brought my own personal dogs in and
I saw the impact of having adog interact with the staff the students at
Yale, and remarkably, it wasunbelievable the response. So I asked my

(01:23):
department and the university if we coulddo this, And it took me a
few years, almost twenty seven,and I found this wonderful organization out of
New York called Puppies Behind Bars andPuppy zalon Bars is a wonderful organization out
of New York that is nonprofit thatsupplies service dogs and facility dogs to police
departments and veterans to suffer a postamount of stress disorder. And in twenty

(01:47):
and twenty I was lucky enough toget paired with my beautiful dog, Heidi,
and that was in the summer,and we haven't stopped going now and
since we've the Yale community with thehelp of you, with the help of
our other team members in Connecticut,it has been a wonderful thing of going
to the community events, going toYale events, going to facilities, different

(02:09):
types of hospital, daycare, everything. Heidi has just been wonderful with children,
kids and adults. She's really madea difference to not only with the
students at Yale as well, andthey've had some times of crisis, right,
but she's been there in times ofjoy. She's been there for the
New Haven community and for multiple incidentsacross their state whenever there's been a need

(02:31):
for comfort and support and therapy.And you know, one thing I've learned
about Puppies behind Bars too, isthey do train these dogs to go to
veterans or law enforcement or first respondersI should say, that are in need
of service and help. And thenthey are also being paired with school resource
officers and officers like yourself to workin the community to break down barriers and

(02:53):
build hope, build community relationships.Heidi has been a true joy for us
to get to know. I mean, we've we've had her at many of
our events and it's only enhanced,especially with the other team members. And
I should say all media and allpeople have really welcomed all of these these
pubs because what they do and whatthey add to an event and what they

(03:14):
add to a crisis situation, youjust cannot even put it towards properly,
right, And we're going to havesome photos and some links up at my
community access dot com so you cansee Heidi in action, and also on
social media. I mean, rich, how can we follow you. There's
there's a lot of ways we cansee that ofc ELPD and I mean,
Heidi has been so wonderful her personality, our team members getting together and going

(03:38):
to Unfortunately sometimes there's some sad eventswe go to. But what our dogs
bring to us a comfort, support, wellness and empathy. Our dogs feel
empathy that is I've never seen before. They can comfort support and when you
see someone just touching our dogs andhaving that moment of feeling a little better,

(04:00):
even though it's the toughest time interactingwith our dogs, it really brings
it warms my heart. Our teammembers. I am blessed and so much
to work with our twelve different teammembers from around the state. And I'm
also blessed at my chiefs at mydepartment have embraced tidy, the university have
embraced tidy, and we look forwardto doing more and more. So when

(04:23):
you first got Heidi, if youcan recall the day that she came to
you, right, because I knowyou had to go for some training obviously,
So when you first came to theuniversity, right, yeah, because
you were all had the distinction ofbeing the first Ivy League dog and you
started away. We're gonna get intothat in a second, but you have
to in the country. You havethe distinction. You and Heidi will forever

(04:44):
be a Jeopardy question and the answer. But also we can we can own
that here in Connecticut that you werethe first Ivy League in the nation in
the nation, right, So that'sthat's incredible. But what was your first
assignment or even if you can remember, what was your first day, like,
did you even know what to do? I remember being very nervous and
Heidi being very happy to you forcomfort me. All I knew is that

(05:13):
I was getting a beautiful dog.And the moment that I saw Heidi and
it was like if it warmed myheart. She's a wonderful, beautiful fifty
something pounds of love and affection andshe hasn't stopped. She always has wagging
your tail. She's always enthusiastic.She's the life of the party, as

(05:38):
my team members would say, umand she just brings so much joy even
at the toughest times. She hasa way of helping people get through some
of the toughest times. With eventhe way she dresses, with her outfits
and everything. People love that partof Heidi. She walks up to everybody
and just wagging her tail doing theHeidi you know shake that I feel shaking.

(06:01):
And I knew that that moment waslife changing from me, my family,
my department, that she was ableto touch people of all intensities and
everything doesn't matter. She was ableto greet people, make people want to
hear her story and had to starta conversation with police departments and changed actually

(06:24):
your complete your perspective on policing too. Yeah, it changed, you know,
my perspective of policing. I mean, I've been a police officer over
thirty years. It was unbelievable thatshe started away talking to having me able
to talk to people that I've neverbeen able to talk to, crossing all
boundaries. And you've been a partof many programs giving back to your communities.

(06:46):
Are backpack programs, I know you'vebeen a part of those that we've
done, the food programs. Unfortunately, through some tragedies we've had across the
state, you've been there and whenpeople see you coming now, is that
you're in your uniform. Right whenpeople see you coming now with Heidi,
do you get accepted more now inthe communities you serve, Yes, more

(07:08):
than ever. Heidi has a wayof breaking down barriers, and even the
way I've addressed as more of asofter look. People love the look.
People love the way that Heidi approachesthem, leans on them, interacts with
them. People tell me their storyif they have other dogs, if they've

(07:28):
lost a dog, or how howdo we get a dog like Heidi,
or you know, if we justtalk about dogs, or you know,
talk about the community, and youknow, sometimes it's problem solving, you
know, how can I help them? How can I help the community members?
How can we interact more? Whatcan we do more? And it's
nice because oftentimes when people see thebadge, it's not for a good reason,

(07:49):
right, it's you know obviously,but now when they see you,
there is happiness. So it couldbe in times of crisis, but a
lot of times it's in time timesof joy. So you're building those connections
and those relationships. But I dowant to get into a little bit more
of the serious part of what Heidiis specifically trained for and one thing I
did learn, you know, beingwith children that have been subjected to trauma,

(08:11):
whether it be violence, abuse,even unfortunately sexual abuse. She is
a dog that can go in thereand handle that and the children seem to
be calmed by it. Yes,you know. One of the things that
I've noticed about Heidi is that shehappens to know when a person, adult,
a child needs that extra hug.She'll sit on someone's lap, she'll

(08:35):
give a nudge, a kiss.It's overwhelmingly so positive to see for me
as a police officer and my membersare the other police department and our team,
to see what our dogs, howthey touched people's hearts and for that
moment they're feeling that they're feeling sortof sort of much happier. They can

(08:58):
gives them a break right or breakfrom that time, it's it's more of
a they can hug Heidie, theyfeel that love, and Heidee feels empathy
and how he feels empathy for thesewho's ever in troubles to go to the
She'll lean on that person. Andit's quite amazing to see our dogs and
how they interact with people in thedifference they make in our community. So

(09:22):
you know, I know with someof the officers and other people who have
you know, talks like Kittie.They'll be called to a scene to help
assist, but not necessarily in atraditional manner that you might think of assisting
in a police situation or an emergencysituation. Sometimes it's you know, go
in the backyard, or go inthe car, go into this room with
the hurting victims to be there sothat the officers that were initially called to

(09:46):
wherever their called who can handle whateverthat situation may be. Yeah, sometimes
in a domestic violence when children areseparated, sometimes in a hospital. Sometimes
in certain situations that person has totestify. Um spending five minutes with our
dogs, it's a game change forcommunity based policing for our police departments and

(10:07):
in the nation to the other dogto do the comfort support dogs in the
area. It's amazing what they cando by just being there and interacting with
people and having the feel people feellike they're they're wanted, they feel like
they're the dog is paying attention tothem. So it's a big deal for
these people. They did a studyand I thought it was very interesting about
therapy dogs in the courtroom for childrenor people of any sort of a victim,

(10:33):
let's just say, right, Andthey did this study because I love
dogs of all shapes and sizes asyou do do, right, I mean,
we love I love no one.I love a dog. But they
did this this study, which Ithought was very interesting that dogs that are
a little bit bigger were actually morecomforting to children and people of assault or
abuse because they feel like they,like you said, they can hold and

(10:56):
touch and it's it's more of asolid, a solid living matter. Right.
But but Heidi and dogs like Heidi, they're not too too big and
there their labs mostly, but theycould be any kind. But you know,
like you said, fifty fifty fivepounds here and there um, and
that's sort of like considered a mediumsized dog. And that seems to be
the happy medium. Within the studythat they conducted that the children and everybody

(11:22):
felt the most comforted with dogs thesize of Heidi. Right. And I
noticed that when Heidi interacts with someone, maybe she'll sit in their lap,
whether command or Heidi Blining, puttingher head on somebody. They feel that
connection, which is so important whenthey do that, and they feel that
the Heidi's love and attention makes sucha big difference in people's life. And

(11:48):
it happens with our dogs and ourteam and Connecticut Public Berd team all the
time. Yeah, every day,all our handlers are doing such great work.
Are what are a couple of theevents that you would like to share
with our audience that you've been tothat have been sort of impactful and they
you know, one happy event,one one traumatic event that you know that
you've you've made a difference and Iknow you've been through and I know where

(12:11):
you've gone, but maybe you couldshare an idea. We went to New
York City a few of our teammembers for the death of the two officers.
That was tough and the dogs wereamazing. And we also went to
the Bristol Police Department and then ithappened here. Yeah, that happened here.
That was unbelievably. That was probablythe toughest one of the things I've

(12:35):
ever gone in my career as apolice officer. And interacting with the family
and seeing how the family embraced theofficers, embraced the dogs, and that
we continue our team to spend timewith everybody in the families of these times.
Um, it's amazing end up goingto fun times like special Olympic events.
If we go to Yale events wherethe students and staff we're just cook

(13:00):
out, sporting events events with you, Renee. I mean it's I am
truly blessed and I love this job. I wish they did it twenty years
ago, but I mean, everyday is a joy to be um.
I go to work happy every day. I am so blessed and lucky to
go to work with my best friendand go home with my best friend every

(13:24):
day. It's an amazing And workwith the frankly the best police officers I've
ever met in my life as apolice officer for the last thirty years on
my team. Yeah yeah. Andlastly with with your team in New Haven
now specifically with Yale Public Safety andI know with the police department that works
with with Yale and the different branchesand the people that you reach. How

(13:46):
how was Heidi received and how dothey receive her still to this day?
Oh, she's received. I haveto tell you the answer. I don't
know why I asked Heidi's received,just you know. She had a little
birthday the other day at one ofher called Bass Library at Yale and we've
had a few birthday parties and Iwasn't really going to do anything big.

(14:09):
So they came up and said,we have to do something variety. We
want to have a little party Friday. There was three hundred people there at
this party. I mean I walkeddown the Yale campus area and people are
screaming out their car doors, screamingout their windows. Hide Heide, and
you know you could see her.She gets all happy. You know,

(14:30):
It's just it's amazing that the wayshe has touched so many people at Yale
every day and continues to touch peoplein Yale. If not Yale Child Study,
it's Yale Medical School, Yale DivinitySchool, School of Management. It
goes on and on. She hastruly been a game changing for community based

(14:52):
policing. Continues to do this wonderfulpath. All right, well, Officer
rich Simons, we wish you manyyears of fun and partnership with our officer
Heide, Yale Public Safety. Anotherteam member from Puppies behind Bars here in
Connecticut. We're gonna have the linksup to everything in the way that you
can support the organization too, tohelp keep their mission alive and funded and

(15:15):
of course, ways you can supportHeidi and visit her. We'll get you
connected to all of her social media. You've got events that are that are
happening all year long, so anytimeyou check out Heidi, there's going to
be something going on that you canbe a part of. And of course,
whenever we do something we'll let youknow too. But it's a pleasure.
It has been a pleasure getting toknow you. I consider you family,
so thank you for being an Iheart Communities and of course Heidi,

(15:37):
my good girl. Way do yousee the photo of her and the beautiful
collar she's wearing for an interview today. That'll all be up at my community
access dot com.