Officer Tildy is retiring from the University of Connecticut’s Police Department. A retirement celebration will be held Tuesday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the North Reading Room of the Wilbur Cross Building.
UCPD facility dog Officer Jazmine will take over Tildy’s position after her retirement. She’s one of the UCPD’s three facility dogs, according to Sergeant Justin Cheney.
“I think she’s up for the challenge and up for the task because she’s very outgoing. I thought Tildy was an outgoing dog when I first met her, but Jazmine has that golden retriever type of energy,” Cheney said.
Cheney said that other working dogs will also be present at Tildy’s retirement party. A photo loop will take place on a large screen showcasing her work and UConn is making a tribute video for Tildy.
“She will be […] donning some retirement gear and then she’ll also be passing Jazmine’s brand-new collar on to her,” Cheney said. “That will kind of symbolize the transition of the collar from Tildy to Jazmine full time duty.”
Cheney discussed his years of work with Tildy.
“My job, right now, is primarily focusing on community outreach for the police department at the Storrs campus,” Cheney said. “I provide a lot of different types of educational programs from self-defense classes to team building to active threat training and other general campus safety awareness classes.”
Cheney said that he usually brings Tildy to community outreach events. He said that she aids students when they need it most, such as when they come to the police department after being the victim of a crime.
“She helps to bridge the gap between our police department and our community, especially with our students,” Cheney said.
Cheney said that students come to UConn from a variety of places across the U.S. and the world.
“We understand that a lot of students come to Storrs with some knowledge of policing,” Cheney said. “Some students have no interaction at all with their local police departments. Some have had a lot of interaction. Some have been positive interactions, some haven’t been so positive.”
Cheney said that Tildy helped him to better connect with students.
“So, what we want to do is try to provide very transparent and open communication with our students, so they feel comfortable, so that they know what the expectations are on campus, they feel safe,” Cheney said. “I think Tildy really helps the message to be sent to students on a much more personal level.”
Tildy is nine and has worked as a UCPD dog for the past seven years, according to Cheney. She’d been getting more tired and had worked hard, so Cheney viewed it as the right time for her to retire. He said that Tildy plans to meet up with her dog friends during retirement.
“She has a lot of friends all over the state of Connecticut that are working still, so we may set up some time so that she can spend time with them,” Cheney said.
Cheney said that Tildy would get more time to have fun during her retirement.
“She loves to swim, she loves her hikes, she loves her walks. And we’re going to do a lot of those,” Cheney said. “When the warm weather comes around again, we want to make sure that we get as much time in the water, whether it be a pool or a lake or whatever it may be.”