Preventing crime is the primary focus of Cottage Grove public safety and there are many unique units within the police department that concentrate on this. One of these is the case management unit which assists community members in difficult situations. >> My role is to respond to and follow up on calls for service. We're an independent group of investigators run out of investigations. So, we respond to and follow up on calls for service involving mental health, targeted violence, and domestic violence. We also have an embedded social worker, her name is Jen Stubblefield, that co-responds with me. >> So, I work for Washington County. I'm embedded in the Cottage Grove Police Department. My main job is to provide resources to the community that would otherwise be difficult. I go on crisis calls and we respond to people's mental health issues. Um, and I can provide resources and referrals. Um, I can also help deescalate situations, provide brief therapy, and just be a support to people in the community. >> Scott and Jen team up to build relationships with residents who have a need for mental health and other county services. Working together allows them to focus directly on their residents needs and frees up patrol officers to keep the rest of the community safe. Even though the case management unit has only been around for a short time, you can already see their impact in Cottage Grove. >> We've charted our progress with reductions in call service, reductions in hospitalizations, and reductions of arrest. In 2025, there was a reduction in calls for service with people having mental health crisis. There's a reduction in hospitalizations and like a reduction in incarcerations. So, the numbers speak for themselves. And then with the implementation and onboarding of our social worker, that's just took it to another level. >> I think Cottage Grove case management unit has been so successful because of their commitment and dedication to residents in the community in dealing with mental health. We try to build relationships and rapport as well as helping people change and grow and seeing people get better and and help families. >> The impact of a social worker represents just onethird of this team's success. The final piece of the CMU is a furry, friendly therapy dog named Rigs. >> Therapy dogs are trained to provide emotional support for all people. He's trained in identifying stressors in people. So ultimately, he's another tool that we can deploy. We're deploying him on active crisis calls. He comes in, does a very good job. There's been more than a handful of occasions where rigs has prevented use of force to try to get them to the hospital and these people are sometimes actively resistant. And if we uh bring rigs in, we actually prevent those uses of force, prevent those hospitalizations. >> The trio of Scott, Jen, and Rigs align to serve their community with compassion and understanding. The key to their success has been the continued support of the program, >> the support from our administration, the city council and mayor. They've supported this program through and through, and they recognize that there's always something left to be done with some of these individuals that call for service in the community. >> Their support and leadership has allowed the case management unit to be successful. It also reminds residents that these officers are not only protecting the community, but making Cottage Grove a better place.