When MUPD Lieutenant James Hensley puts on Blue’s vest, collar and official badge, Marquette’s very own community support dog knows it’s time to go to work.
Blue is a two-year-old German shorthair pointer who loves toys and chicken-wrapped apple treats. At home, he spends time with his brother Herman, a dachshund, and sister Darby, an English pointer.
A few years ago, Hensley began brainstorming the idea of having a support dog at Marquette after witnessing the police department deal with a couple of unpleasant non-Marquette-related investigations within their patrol zone.
Previously, MUPD had another support dog named Nattie, but she was adopted by a family after the job didn’t serve her anymore.
“What we learned from that is our students really had a sense of comfort with Nattie, because many are away from home,” Edith Hudson, chief of MUPD, said. “They’re away from their pet, and just that comfort, that unconditional love that your pet provides, you don’t have that on campus.”
So, Hensley created a plan for the police department to get another support dog to provide for students and MUPD staff alike. He brought up the idea to Hudson, wrote a detailed proposal and had it presented to the university, which was accepted.
Hensley said that besides offering community engagement, having a support dog would offer a wide range of possibilities and help bridge the gap between college students and law enforcement officers. He got Blue as a puppy and allowed adequate time at the house for him to get used to being away from his mother and littermates, and then time in Milwaukee to adjust to the city noises.
Blue was only a few months old when he made his formal debut as Marquette’s community support dog in May of 2022. Hensley said he and Blue worked well together immediately.
MUPD Officer Tom Wichgers enjoys seeing Hensley and Blue go to events together. He said it allows the police department to let the community know that they exist as a support system to meet people where they’re currently at, no matter their situation.
“We have quite a few people who come here to Marquette, to MUPD, who are at points in their life when they need assistance,” Hudson said. “They come to Marquette for a reason, right? They come here because we are the difference.”
Being a community support dog, Blue is different from a typical police canine. Hensley said police dogs are either trained for patrol where they trace trails of people running from cops or detection where they sniff out explosives or drugs.
“We didn’t do any of that with Blue, and the reasoning behind that is, we didn’t want to give anyone a reason not to come up to Blue and love on him and be able to get close to him,” Hensley said. “If someone was at a party and they’re worried about some sort of smell being on them … we didn’t want any of that.”
At the office, Hensley has responsibilities other than Blue which include policies and procedures, training and community engagement. On a typical day, he starts working at 7 or 8 a.m., answers emails, does office tasks and then gets Blue ready for any events they may have that day.
Wichgers said he was teaching an emotionally tough active shooter class when Blue made a surprise visit with Hensley.
“To watch the shift in people’s demeanor, it’s so fun,” Wichgers said. “The second [students] see Blue, they pop up, they cheer up. There’s this joy that comes out.”
Hensley said the purpose of MUPD is not only to protect the campus, but also to serve the community. He said Blue allows him a natural opportunity to connect with students who wouldn’t normally start a conversation with a police officer.
“A student reached out to me and said she had anxiety, and she asked if I could bring Blue over for a couple of minutes just before her exam,” Hensley said. “Then I thought, ‘Well, if she’s going through this, chances are there’s another student in the same boat.’”
Hensley told the student to ask her professor if he could bring Blue into the class as a surprise, and when he did, he said the class immediately relaxed. Since that visit, the pair has made several other surprise visits to classrooms, which Hensley said he loves doing.
Blue also attends games at the Al McGuire Center and makes appearances at community-building events like his annual birthday party, where campus members can get free treats and sign a banner, and this month’s “Blue @ the Bridge” wellness event.
Hudson said she sees the students, faculty and staff who interact with Blue relax immediately. She said often students won’t reach out to a regular person during a tough time for a hug, but they will do that when they see Blue.
Students are also allowed to stop in to visit Blue anytime he’s in the MUPD office, although there are no specific set hours.
“They might be missing their own family, missing their own pets,” Hensley said. “And we’ll invite [Blue] into the lobby of the police department here and they’ll just give them some treats; they’ll play with some of his toys, and I just love seeing that.”
Hensley said one student he talked with chose Marquette over another university because of her experience meeting Blue at an event. He said she came back a few hours later and told him she had committed to Marquette.
“I’ve had four different people tell me they came here because of Blue,” Hensley said. “They’re like, ‘For the university to have a dog, a community support dog for the students, it just gives off the feeling that the university cares about us.’”
When he’s not putting smiles on students’ faces with Blue, Hensley is making a difference outside of the Marquette community with his Blue Bag Program for children in South Africa. Through the program, Hensley and his wife provide the children with toys, clothes and school supplies, and they’re also building a school near the town of Gravelotte to enroll 65 kids.
Hudson said Hensley is a perfect fit at MUPD because of the Ignatian spirituality that he constantly and unconsciously exhibits.
“That Ignatian philosophy and way of doing things—treating people right, seeing God in all things and all people—that is something that has been part of the culture here for years and it continues to be part of the culture,” Hudson said. “It’s just part of who he is.”
This story was written by Mia Thurow. She can be reached at [email protected].
