Newest worker in DA's office doing some pretty dogged work

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley held a press conference today to introduce the newest member of his staff: Indy, a dog that is helping crime victims recover - and tell their stories.

According to the DA's office:

Over the past few weeks, Conley said, Indy has sat in on a meeting with a family working through the serious, debilitating injury of a loved one in a car crash, made friends with a teenager who was sexual assaulted, and most recently sat in on a forensic interview with a very young victim of physical and sexual abuse by family members.

"In this latter case, Indy’s already proven his value," Conley said. “In a previous forensic interview, the little boy was emotionally walled-off from the interviewer and we made very little progress. But last week, we introduced him to Indy. After getting to know one another for a little while, they went into the interview room and something remarkable happened ' the boy opened up more than he ever had before. There was something about Indy’s gentle, loving nature that let the child speak."

Indy lives and commutes with his handler, Kara Hayes, who also serves as director of the DA’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program.