There’s a new dog on campus at the University of Delaware, and she’s working for the police

The new member of the University of Delaware police department trotted into the office, wearing a sign that beckoned: I’m friendly. Please pet me.

Patti, an affable yellow Labrador retriever, is Police Cpl. Jamel Howard’s newest partner. The dog was officially sworn in — she raised her paws and was given a badge — as the department’s “facility dog” in June.

She comes from Puppies Behind Bars, a New York nonprofit that trains and oversees prisoners who raise the dogs for placement with police departments, veterans, and first responders around the country.

The University of Delaware is one of two colleges in the tristate area with a dog from Puppies Behind Bars. Princeton University also has one.

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“Patti salute,” Howard, 36, said, showing how the dog responds to one of 90 commands she has been taught.

Patti, wearing a blue and yellow beaded “UD Grad” necklace given to her by student bookstore workers, sat and raised her paws. Howard reached into a pouch attached to his waist and fed her. “Peekaboo,” Howard said, spurring Patti to rise, go behind him, and peek between his legs — earning another mouthful.

Eight colleges nationwide have dogs trained by Puppies Behind Bars, said the organization’s president and founder Gloria Gilbert Stoga. There is no charge for the dogs, each valued at about $50,000, she said. The agency also provides two weeks of on-site training to handlers, like Howard, for free, including hotel and food costs. The agency is funded through private donations, she said.

Some campuses have gone other routes in getting dogs. Temple University recently acquired a 10-week old Chocolate Labrador, named Barkley after the Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley, that will go through training with a handler who is a member of the department.

Barkley likely will be ready to serve as the department’s comfort dog by the end of the year, said Jennifer Griffin, vice president for public safety. She’s already spending time on campus.

“This is another great opportunity to break down the barrier between young people and law enforcement,” Griffin said.

At the University of Delaware, Patti is expected to promote overall wellness among officers and staff in the department and throughout the university, crime witnesses, and victims and the student body, Howard said.

“She fosters a positive environment throughout the agency,” said Lt. Anthony Battle.

She’s also bridging the gap between police and the community. Even though Howard is friendly and outgoing, the police uniform can be off-putting, he said.

“But when she’s around, that is out the window,” he said. “She’s definitely an icebreaker.”

Since joining the department, Patti has been making her rounds at new student orientations and community spaces, such as Cub Scout meetings and day cares. She’s also winning hearts in the department; officers and staff have brought her toys, and she knows exactly what offices to find them.

She’s already garnered more than 550 followers on her university Instagram profile.

One recent afternoon, Patti greeted new members of the football team who were on campus for practice, then strolled through the student center.

“She’s so much better than my dog,” said a 21-year-old senior, as she squatted down to pet Patti.

Howard is the liaison to the football team, and Patti will be accompanying him to home games. He’s also very active with the university’s Greek organizations and expects Patti will be making her rounds there, too.

Patti will remain a part of campus for as long as she’s in service. Patti lives with Howard, his wife, their two children, ages 8 and 17 months, and their pet beagle.

Howard had been in the Community Resource Unit for about two years when he decided having a dog would be helpful. When he visited day cares and other local sites, he constantly was asked if he could bring one of the department’s K-9s with him.

The department has four, all trained for explosives detection.

“They’re good dogs, but they are trained for something totally different,” he said. “I wouldn’t go to my foot doctor to get dental work done.”

Then he learned about other police departments with facility dogs. He was charged with researching the best way to get one and settled on Puppies Behind Bars.

Howard, a Brooklyn native and graduate of Lincoln University, a historically Black school in southern Chester County, started his career in 2013 working for a correctional facility. He liked that Puppies Behind Bars allows inmates to give back and grow in their rehabilitation through the dog training.

He received guidance from Richard Simons, a Yale University police officer who got his dog, Heidi, from Puppies Behind Bars in 2020. Six-year-old Heidi has rivaled Yale’s canine mascot Handsome Dan, a bulldog, for student attention.

“She’s prettier,” Simons said.

The dog has amassed a long list of honors and accomplishments, from excellence in service awards to a proclamation from the Connecticut governor’s office and first place in a holiday photo contest.

“She’s a game changer for community-based policing,” he said.

Simons has become so much a part of Puppies Behind Bars that the organization recently named a dog after him.

Puppies Behind Bars doesn’t accept all prisoners who volunteer. Stoga told Forbes in 2020 that sex offenders, child abusers, or those involved in animal abuse or anyone with serious mental health issues are excluded. Those accepted also must not have had any disciplinary infractions in the last year, the magazine reported.

Patti’s trainers taught Howard how to work with her and presented him with a journal that included their entries from the time Patti began training. There were pictures of weekend outings with staff. Some were written in Patti’s voice and others in the trainers’ voices.

Howard said he and his family have been reading a page daily.

“I’m really excited to start a new journey,” said an entry written in Patti’s voice from March 28, 2024, the day before she began correctional facility training.

“Patti is my third puppy I’m raising … and it feels like she’s my first all over again,” her inmate trainer wrote the day Patti arrived.

In week two, the trainer wrote that he introduced Patti to commands, including “down, let’s go, stay for feeding and touch.”

Two and a half months in, the bond was even stronger.

“Patti brings a light to this place that I haven’t felt in years,” he wrote June 6, 2024.

This past April, Patti’s training was done. The parting was emotional.

“As I look him in the eyes one last time, and lick away his tears,” said the journal entry in Patti’s voice, “I can tell that he’s sad and happy at the same time because he knows I’m leaving him forever. But I’m going on to do the great things he taught me here.”

Puppies Behind Bars continues to monitor the dogs’ progress throughout their lives, visiting them periodically and checking to make sure they are getting enough exercise and maintaining proper weight.

Howard lets Patti run in the expansive University of Delaware fields and swim in a creek near campus for up to an hour daily — she loves that, he said.

“Then I go home and get my workout in,” he said. “It’s her before me. I tell her, she’s the boss.”