Innovation in Victims’ Services: Courthouse Dogs

In many ways, Aloha is just like any other playful pup. She loves to roll in the grass, chase her handler’s young daughters, and chew on her favorite red toy. But Aloha is not your average dog. She is a courthouse dog; an extraordinary canine who provides paws-itive support to victims of violent crime. The one and a half-year-old Australian multigenerational labradoodle, with her captivating green eyes and a bright pink nose, is one of two companion dogs that serve the Yolo County District Attorney’s office.

From right: Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer, and County Victim Services Program Manager Laura Valdes, with Aloha

District Attorney Jeff Reisig introduced the working dog program to Yolo County in 2008. The concept developed out of the notion that dogs — as man’s best friends — might provide a comforting and reassuring presence to crime survivors during victim/witness interviews and courtroom interrogations.

Aloha was bred and trained at Gabby Jack Ranch, a nonprofit organization out of Penn Valley, California that provides service, therapy and comfort dogs for people with physical and/or emotional challenges. She began her service training when she was just ten weeks old with Training Coordinator Terry Sandhoff, and is now part of an elite team formally known as High Performance Therapy (HPT) Dogs focused specifically on aiding the victim services community. In order to most effectively support survivors, who often suffer enduring psychological disabilities such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Aloha has undergone extensive, specialized training focused on the needs of victim services.

“Therapy dogs help people victimized by others to open up, tell someone and turn their traumatic events into personal triumph.”
—Gabby Jack Ranch founder and CEO Jacque Reynolds

Canine companions like Aloha are trained to assist crime victims and witnesses as they prepare for court and while testifying in trials, as well as to build courage and confidence in their ability to open up about the crimes they have been too afraid or too ashamed to face. In addition, the temperament, intelligence and friendly dispositions of HPT dogs make them very successful in comforting both adults and children alike. For kids, pups like Aloha serve as “a friend to whom they can share all of the horrors, tell all of their fears and receive non-judgmental and unconditional acceptance,” shares Gabby Jack Ranch founder and CEO Jacque Reynolds.

Hate Crimes

Guest Blog by District Attorney Jeff Reisig, Yolo County

As we observe hate crimes awareness month, let me explain the nature of a hate crime. They are crimes motivated by a particular bias such as disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.

Crimes based on race or ethnicity generally represent 60 percent of all hate crime events, followed by sexual orientation-based crime and then closely by crime based on religion. According to statistics through 2009 from the Department of Justice, hate crimes have been on a general decline since 2001. However, violent crimes still make up around 63% of hate crime.

I want to highlight a case my office recently prosecuted and convicted two men for the beating of a Sikh taxi driver based on the perception that the driver was Muslim. On November 28, 2010, Harbhajan Singh, the cab driver, drove the defendants and their wives home from Harlow’s Bar in Sacramento. Mr. Singh wore a traditional Sikh turban and beard. At the conclusion of the trip, one of the men demanded more change than the fare allowed. Singh merely hesitated to the demand, and then was attacked by the men just as Singh turned to comply. One of the men shouted racial epithets and accused Mr. Singh of being Muslim, then punched Singh in the face repeatedly while the other man attacked from behind. Mr. Singh was almost pulled from the car, but this was prevented by the wife of one of the men and Mr. Singh’s seatbelt. Mr. Singh was able to escape while the two men were distracted by the wife’s efforts. Mr. Singh suffered significant injuries, including a fracture to his eye socket.

The West Sacramento Police were able to find the assailants because the wife who intervened lost her cell phone in the process. The police used the phone and fingerprints collected from the victim’s blood to find two suspects, and a series of interviews established the roles of the two men in the attack. The man with the greater part in the attack pled to the assault and the “hate crime” enhancement and was given a 13 year sentence, due in part to his conviction for a prior assault.

Mr. Singh did nothing to provoke this vicious attack except to be from a different culture. Attacking someone because of their race, religion or other protected basis is not only heinous, but against the ideals we hold as Americans, and must not be tolerated. My office remains committed to diligently prosecuting this type of crime.

Information on hate crime statistics may be found in the latest report by the Attorney General.