Alpharetta police introduce agency’s first therapy dog

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Alpharetta Police Department is instating its first therapy dog to provide victim and witness support and departmental therapy.

Lt. Andrew Splawn said Det. Caitlin Lawrence pitched Scout, a 14-monthold beagle mix, to Director of Public Safety John Robison in 2022. He said Scout was approved, and Lawrence attended a 40-hour basic training school with Scout in December.

Splawn said Scout came from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s Paws and Stripes College in Florida, a program where select jail inmates train shelter dogs in obedience to determine whether they would be a good fit as a therapy or a comfort dog.

“They have to do a mock therapy dog interview where they’re interviewing a victim or a witness and the dog is in the room,” Splawn said. “They have a really nice program down there at Brevard County, and then after the one-week certification, then the handler gets to come back and start to do work with the dog.”

Scout’s training did not end with Paws and Stripes, Splawn said. Scout will continue to learn and improve his skills for the rest of his time at the department.

Splawn said standard K9 dogs are used as tools in the field for scent detection, tracking and apprehension, but Scout will be used to bring comfort for those who have had traumatic experiences.

“Because whenever somebody’s been a victim of a traumatic crime, especially like a person-on-person crime, being able to help them recall the details and speak about them, it’s very challenging,” Splawn said. “And if we can use therapy dogs to help them out, we’re helping the victim, but then we’re also helping to identify suspects.”

He said Scout’s primary purpose is a therapy dog for victims and witnesses, but the dog will also provide therapy for the Public Safety Department’s employees, such as firefighters and 911 dispatchers, who can witness traumatic events in the course of their duties.

Since February, Splawn said Scout has already made rounds around the department to cheer up employees, but Scout has not yet been employed in direct response to a traumatic event.

Splawn said a study conducted by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office found that in 24 cases, 83 percent of child abuse victims made active disclosures when comforted by a therapy dog, compared to the national average 30-40 percent disclosure rate.

“It really helps victims and witnesses [who are] anxious in an interview room,” Splawn said. “It really helps calm them down, and as they get more calm, they’re able to recall more instances and details to be able to give to the police.”

Splawn said the department will review Scout’s success rate in the future to determine if more therapy dogs would be worthwhile, but the department is open to having more.

Ordinance: Correction

Continued from Page 1 personal transportation vehicles on public streets with a posted 25 mph speed limit. Two years later, it passed the Personal Transportation Vehicle Plan which proposes multi-use golf cart paths around the city in addition to a registration process for residents who wish to drive PTVs.

But the city code does not tend to “golf carts.”

Echoing statements made in December, the White Columns Homeowners Association sent a letter March 6 to its residents, maintaining the legal distinction of golf carts and PTVs. The White Columns covenants state that “golf carts” are not permitted but does not explicitly use the term “PTVs.”

The White Columns covenants were recorded in 1994 before PTV nomenclature was established and before the community’s golf course was opened.

While the covenants pertain to gated and non-gated residents, the HOA considers non-gated streets to fall under the jurisdiction of city code and has referred those residents back to the city on PTV-related matters.

For gated residents, the HOA will soon release a set of registration and operator guidelines for resident PTV drivers.

Melissa Dicks, White Columns property manager, could not be reached for comment.

Residents take issue

Dan Pike, a White Columns resident, provided public comment at the Feb. 22 Milton City Council meeting, claiming to represent a large group of residents concerned that the city’s PTV ordinance conflicts with the White Columns HOA covenants.

Pike said there have been multiple sightings of carts driven by unlicensed minors with young children onboard.

“So why are we here?” Pike asked. “We’re here to ask for the council’s help exploring how we can assure the city’s PTV ordinance doesn’t interfere with our HOA golf cart restriction we all agreed to when we bought our homes.”

Two other residents provided public comment at the same meeting, advocating against PTVs in their neighborhood.

At the March 6 City Council meeting, another White Columns resident criticized her HOA.

Julie DeCredico, who lives just inside the entrance of the community, said she has noticed cars speed at around 45 mph and observed multiple car accidents.

“A speeding car colliding with a golf cart on our street could obviously be deadly,” DeCredico said.

DeCredico took issue with the association’s assertion that golf carts and PTVs are not one in the same.

“As our U.S. Supreme Court has told us several times lately, rules need to be understood in terms of the framer’s intent,” she said. “To me, and to the HOA board who passed the no golf carts rule, if it looks like a golf cart and drives and operates and quacks like a golf cart, then it is a golf cart.”

The online version of this story was updated to clarify the White Columns HOA position on its ban of “golf carts” on roadways in its community. The HOA cites state law for its definition of golf carts as distinguished from personal transportation vehicles.

DeCredico said the HOA needs 51 percent of the community to change its by-laws. But with the HOA’s keen eye on vehicle type, covenants may not need to be changed.

City attorney weighs in Milton City Attorney Jarrard released a legal memo saying, “It was not the intention of the City Council to invalidate or render unenforceable private covenants pertaining to PTV usage.”

In the memo, Jarrard cites case law that allows private covenants to be more restrictive than local government regulation.

Brad Dell, White Columns HOA modifications chair, submitted an emailed public comment for the March 6 City Council meeting referencing Jarrard’s memo.

Dell said the memo was “initiated not in the interest of clarity but in an effort to sow deeper confusion and frustration.”

Adam Hollingsworth, White Columns HOA secretary, questioned city efforts to gain insight and perspective from HOAs across Milton. In an email, Hollingsworth said the city is creating a “patchwork of contradictory and confusing rules and regulations” for city-owned streets, citing the city’s action to remove a provision allowing HOAs to act on behalf of neighborhoods for traffic calming measures.

While Jarrard does not mention golf carts in his written opinion, he did articulate them in an email. Jarrard confirmed that PTVs and golf carts are not synonymous terms. However, he said the definition of PTV captures more than just golf carts.

“The overwhelming number of PTVs that will be implicated by the Milton PTV ordinance are going to be, colloquially speaking, golf carts,” Jarrard said.

In an interview, Pike said he and 20 to 30 other White Columns residents plan to lobby the city to amend the PTV ordinance to “enable, without interpretation, that HOA covenants be respected, protected, preserved.”

When asked if the ordinance could be updated in this way, Jarrard said it’s a possibility.