Wellbeing and trauma dogs in the MPS

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029508

I note you seek access to the following information:

How many wellbeing dogs do you have in your force? If so what are they? I am requesting this information from all England and Wales police forces

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

In 2021 the MPS welcomed two new wellbeing and trauma dogs to join Police Dog Dexter in helping colleagues deal with their mental health.

When a dog enters the workplace, the atmosphere changes immediately. Interactions have many physiological/psychological benefits such as lowered heart rate, blood pressure and stress levels. Our police dog Dexter has recently been joined by pooches Daisy and Hugo to help offer our staff time to ‘paws’ what they’re doing, take a moment to de-stress and enjoy their company.

PD Dexter is the only full-time MPS Wellbeing Dogs but demand upon him and his handler is supplemented by Daisy, Hugo and more recently Mika, who is a 10 month Labrador puppy undergoing her Wellbeing and environmental training.

As well as the dogs needing to be sociable, calm and have an affinity to human interaction, the role and the skills of the handler are vital. The handlers have undergone enhanced training in relation to mental health First Aid and Suicide prevention / awareness and as such the dog and handler work as a team to identify signs in an individual who may be suffering poor mental wellbeing. The handler is not a counsellor but has a skillset enabling them to identify signs and symptoms and then signpost the vulnerable individual to support agencies both inside and outside the Metropolitan Police Service.

Their primary role is to support officers who have been subjected to a one-off traumatic event or alternatively the accumulative effect of their role. For example officers investigating child exploitation and the exposure to indecent and traumatic images or other operational roles subjecting an individual to a drip / drip effect of trauma.

Book a visit.
The scheme is available to support anyone in the MPS.
To help comply with COVID precautions the Wellbeing dogs will be wiped down with dog friendly antibacterial wipes in between visits to minimise the risk of cross contamination and all are asked to wear their face masks. These dogs make a real difference offering group sessions, one to one ‘walk and talk’ sessions and helping vulnerable victims open up about their ordeals.