Hats go off to a very special Highland Park officer who retired two days ago as the Highland Park Police community wellness dog during a special ceremony Sunday in Highland Park.
Officials said the police department celebrated the retirement of Pawfficer Vinny Duke for his service as Highland Park’s first community wellness dog.
Along with his partner, Officer Darren Graff, Pawfficer Duke provided comfort to community members in need, attended a variety of community events from school visits to National Night Out to pop-ups at Highland Park businesses, worked the desk at City Hall, and enjoyed countless treats and belly rubs, officials said.
Having served the community with distinction, Pawfficer Duke is looking forward to extra naps, snacks, and playtime with Officer Graff’s family, officials said.
Duke was the department’s first community service and wellness dog, who was able to choose his name when he was first assigned to Highland Park in 2022.
The highly-trained walker hound arrived in Highland Park with police officers Mike Lodesky and Darren Graff.
He served in a critical capacity, assisting with bringing comfort and support to individuals in need who reached out to the police department for help, the city said.
The dog’s service primarily focused on situations where he could reduce stress and fear in individuals who have been victims of a crime or other emergency situations.
The canine chose the name “Vinny,” which is short for Ravinia and “Duke” because he became very attached to it, the city said.
Vinny Duke was trained free of charge through the Paws & Stripes College, a program of the Brevard County, Florida Sheriff’s Office.
“So, although his “pawsonnel file” says “Vinny,” you’ll hear our officers interact with the dog as “Duke,” which is the name he was given during his time at the Paws & Stripes College,” the city said.
The program through Paws & Stripes College was a second chance for both the dogs, who are all shelter rescues, and carefully selected and trained county jail inmates, who serve as trainers.
City officials said the trainers worked to train dogs in voice commands, hand signals and other obedience skills, in addition to advanced training to serve as therapy dogs to victims and individuals in crisis.
The addition of the community service dog augmented the police department’s mental health and crisis intervention response toolkit, which includes mental health first aid training for all officers and crisis intervention training for all officers upon completion of two years of service.
Its unknown right now if the department will bring in another canine in the future.