Otto Eager To Create Salem State Connections On Campus

SALEM, MA — Salem State University Chief of Police Gene Labonte said he spent years thinking of ways to build a better connection between students and the campus police staff that could break through the tension of a security situation or past interactions with law enforcement.

When SSU security systems engineer and alumnus Nick DiFranco brought his new puppy, Otto, to work one day, Labonte realized the energetic Australian cattle dog may just be the four-legged ice-breaker he'd been seeking as the department's new campus community dog.

"You can see him and gauge immediately when he sees people," Labonte told Patch. "He just wants to be around people. He does not look at all menacing. If the students and anybody in the community want to come up, and approach and pet and interact with the dog, and an officer is right by his side, there is an opportunity for the officer to engage in an informal manner and have a conversation with that student.”

DiFranco said Otto "just kind of stumbled" into the new job after he and his girlfriend, Lauren Ward, got him a few months after their previous cattle dog, Banjo, passed away. He said that while Banjo was shy, Otto immediately adored all the attention he could get.

"He was a complete love bug, all over us from the day we got him," DiFranco said. "I brought him in one day and Gene said: 'This could be the dog.'

"He's had this idea for years just waiting for the right situation to arise."

Otto's role will be to be a positive presence for students, faculty and staff. He will be hanging out at major events and making regular visits throughout the campus along with Nick, and usually another officer.

"It was very intentional on my part not to have one that was a traditional police comfort dog," Labonte said. "We wanted to be a little unique. I wanted a dog where I didn't choose to assign to one officer directly because I want all of the officers to have an opportunity to participate in the program."

The hope is that when Otto shows up at a campus event wearing his personalized "Pet Me" vest, it will bring a smile to the faces of students who take him up on the offer, as well as create impromptu interactions between those students and the officers with Nick and Otto that have a lasting benefit.

"Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the interactions that our students tend to have with our officers can be more on the negative side," Labonte said. "Because they're usually calling when there's a problem, or we're responding when there is some type of a crisis.

"Those situations tend to be more difficult if you don't have that relationship formed upfront. We're looking for situations where the students feel comfortable and are engaging with the officers in informal settings when there is not a crisis situation, or they are not in need of assistance, so it makes those future interactions if they do occur that much easier for them."

Labonte said he realizes that "officers often aren't the most approachable" and that students from different backgrounds may have different histories with those in uniform.

"But, if Nick is out walking around with Otto, and has an officer by his side, well everyone wants to walk up to a dog," Labonte said. "Everyone wants to pet the dog. Especially a dog like Otto."

DiFranco and Ward trained Otto from their previous experience when he was young, and then Otto went to North Boston Dog Training in Peabody for two weeks of basic obedience, plus recently did additional training with a dog coach out of Wenham specific to DiFranco's role as a handler with an eye toward the types of crowds he is likely to draw on campus.

"All the feedback from the trainer has been positive," Labonte said. "He seems to be responding very well to it. Which is great. We'll see what happens when there are a couple of thousand students on campus, and how he reacts on the sidelines at a soccer game, or at a barbecue.

"We already said hot dogs and hamburgers are not in his contract. Nick and I established that. I don't want to be sending him to doggie fat camp."

Labonte said the only concern as students begin to move back on campus this week is protecting Otto from becoming too popular.

"We're already starting to see this is probably going to be busier than expected," he said. "We don't want to overburden Nick, because he has a very demanding job as it is here, and we want this to be a positive experience for Otto."

Otto's biggest job will be to make a day, or even a few moments, more reassuring for the hundreds of Salem State students he may interact with over the course of a week on campus.

“Our students experience anxiety on a number of levels whether it be just being in a new environment never having been away from home, or perhaps they have an exam coming up, or had a tough week of classwork,” Labonte said, "and if Otto can be a calming presence for them and make them more successful students while they're here then that's a good thing."

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)