Crisis K-9 to be added to Mohave Middle School

Scottsdale’s Mohave Middle School is set to acquire a “Crisis K-9”, a trained Scottsdale police
therapy dog, as a part of the school resource officer’s program in August 2022, the Scottsdale
Unified School District announced during a special meeting held at Mohave District Annex on
Tuesday.

Crisis K-9s on school campuses are a resource to assist students' emotional health. School can be
a stressful and triggering place for some, and there could be immense emotional benefits of the
therapy dog's presence.

These K-9s will be available to comfort students with emotional distress, depression, anxiety,
autism and other special conditions, according to the city of Scottsdale.

Dr. Milissa Sackos, the assistant superintendent of secondary education, provided an overview of
the school resource officers program on SUSD campuses at the special meeting of the governing
board this month. This included an update on Crisis K-9s.

“This alone has really been a valuable asset to our students and to our staff. We’re really
appreciative of all of their hard work,” Sackos said.

The first police Crisis K-9 was assigned to Chaparral High School in February 2021. The K-9
works alongside the resource officer on campus.

“From what I’ve seen people just go up and pet it, usually it’s because he’s cute. In my opinion,
he’s there to add a bit of comfort and cuteness to the somewhat hectic school.” Nicholas Jirov, a
junior at Chaparral High School, said.

Rocket, the Chaparral assigned K-9, was provided to the school through the schools association
of parents and teachers. The SUSD has not funded one of these animals before.

The SUSD received enough funding to assign and obtain a new K-9 for a school within the
district.

“We haven’t paid for any of the Crisis K-9 needs and we have enough funds now to actually add
a third one that is coming in August 2022,” Sackos said. “We’re very excited, and that Crisis K-9
will be stationed at the middle school right next door.”

The restorative justice program includes the expansion of Crisis K-9s on SUSD campuses. This
program is a form of alternative punishment for students.

The K-9s are there to assist this program and make students' exchanges with school resource
officers more pleasant. According to the city of Scottsdale, the first contact a young person has
with police is often with an SRO.
Students are often intimidated by authority figures, especially police officers. This allows the
students to have a more comfortable time due to the calming energy the dog supplies.

The SRO’s are experienced and are crisis intervention trained, according to the city of Scottsdale.

“These gentlemen have to test, which I understand is a pretty rigorous process to test and to
interview to be a K-9 handler,” Sackos said.

SUSD officials are looking forward to introducing another Crisis K-9 to their district.