WEST RICHLAND, Wash. – To say a dog is man’s best friend is an understatement about how much of a friend Polar is not only to the West Richland Police Department but the community as a whole. Police have a difficult job keeping us safe. The animal control officer at the West Richland Police Department says their job can be stressful. A three-year-old dog named Polar came to WRPD over a year ago as a therapy dog.
Service Peace Warriors, an organization that trains service dogs for veterans, donated Polar to WRPD last February. Polar was sworn in in March 2023. Polar’s handler tells me she’s been with the department for over ten years. She says she’s seen the department with and without a dog. She says Polar brings positive energy to the officers, and Polar’s job is an important one.
“He has the training to approach somebody, and he can sense how stressed they are,” said Adamson. “He’ll usually just put his head on their knee so they can pet him.”
Adamson says he got that specific training from Service Peace Warriors to help bring the stress levels down on people around the station who need it the most. She says his personality is very calming around the station, and Polar is just like any other dog. However, when they put the vest on him, he knows it’s time to go to work.
Students returned to class at William Wiley Elementary School after the tragic shooting of teacher Amber Rodriguez. Many teachers and support staff were there to support the students as well as Polar.
Polar and the WRPD wanted to ensure the students at William Wiley Elementary School returned to normal.
Polar’s handler says after the shooting, polar has made the rounds to make sure everyone from the Richland School District office to the elementary school students have emotional support. Students at William Wiley returned to school after having classes canceled the day after the shooting. She told me there were two additional therapy dogs from Go Team Therapy Dogs, a non-profit that provides comfort from a crisis, along with Polar.
“Polar was in the back greeting kids, and it livened their spirits up a little bit coming back to school,” Adamson said. “We continued to have these dogs there throughout the week.”
Adamson said they brought the dogs out at recess. She says this helps the kids return to their normal school schedule. Adamson said that although Polar is the station therapy dog, he’s actually the West Richland community therapy dog. Everywhere they go, people ask about Polar.
Adamson tells me Polar has trading cards. She said every time they were at the school, students asked for one of these K9 Polar trading cards.
Although Polar lives at the station, he does get vacation days. Just recently, Adamson took him to the woods for some much-needed time off.
