BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — The Wood County Courthouse has officially announced a new member to the prosecuting team.
Two-year-old Norene, a black Labrador Retriever, is the first dog ever to work in the courthouse.
While Friday marked her first day on the job, she's been training ever since she was a puppy.
Norene can perform cues to help crime victims feel more at ease in offices and in courtrooms during witness testimony.
Paul Dobson, Wood County prosecutor, said they've been working to make this happen for four years now and that it's something they felt needed to be added to the courtroom to comfort people.
"Some of the terrible things that they have to describe, the victims and witnesses, that they experience and therefore have to describe and how the criminal justice process requires that input and that involvement, it can be very traumatic for them," Dobson said.
When a witness is testifying, Dobson said Norene can lay under the stand when allowed by the court in order to be a support during those difficult times.
"Resting her chin in a person's hand to actually sitting in their lap, resting her forelegs in their lap while they can pet her," Dobson said. "What we really wanted to do was to provide compassion and comfort and assistance in helping them work through that process."
The prosecutor's office said Norene's training is funded by money taken off the streets and involved in crimes.
"The criminals try to use the money to benefit themselves and so we took that and shifted it so that we're actually helping the people that they've hurt in a sense," Jim Hoppenjans, the chief assistant prosecutor said. "So it's kind of a circular way that it comes back to the victims and we're able to use that. Not putting nothing on the taxpayer and I think that's a really good way to use those funds to advance our goals of justice."