C an a c a n in e h e lp f in d

d ig ita l evidence?Beyond cadavers and narcotics, these dogs are tra in ing the ir noses on e lectron ic devicesBySaraScullin

16 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY I SEPTEMBER 2016 www.officer.com

that scent until it alerts on the child/ fugitive/bag of drugs. The same sense of smell can even detect carcinoma in patients long before an MRI corrobo­rates. A dogs ability is far more power­ful than anything else we as humans could accomplish or devise, which is why animals continue to play a leading role in investigations.

As it happens, these days a significant number of investigations are morphing from the physical to the digital. But dogs have ability here, too. When electronic components containing incriminating materials are hidden away, investigators are turning yet again to their tried-and- true employed “noses.” This is what hap­pened in the arrest of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle last year. Fogle was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for receiving child pornography (mostly videos) and having sex with minors. Through the course of the investigation a black Labrador named Bear played a key role in Fogle’s arrest. The two-year-old rescue was one of a

handful of dogs in the country trained to sniff out electronic data devic­

es. He was able to ferret out the smoking gun— or in this case the plastic thumb drive—so Fogle could be charged for his offenses.

H o w do th e y do it?We’ve all heard of canines

who go to work in a correc­tions setting to detect cell­

phones. The idea here, when we talk about finding contraband

For those who work with pub­lic safety canines, the long and furry road to professionalism is a labor of love. The dog is usually entrusted to one handler for the rest of its career. The two eat, sleep and work together. These specialty pups have always held their

own in police work and continue to sur­prise us with what they are capable of.

We know that a dog’s sense of smell is potent and precise. Once trained on a substance or material it will hunt down

materials on electronic devices, is very similar. Like Bear, one pooch named Winnie with the Massachusetts State Police, is another Labrador retriever certified in this task. The two-year-old pup is trained by her handler Trooper Christopher MacDonald to locate cellphones, DVDs, USB drives and SD cards. She does it by detecting certain chemical compounds specific to parts used in the manufacture of the devices. When child pornographers and other fugitives who deal in digital try to con­ceal the evidence of their crimes with these items, Winnie will ferret them out.

“Dogs can do everything from detect carcinoma to finding narcotics and explosives,” says President of the American Police Canine Association (APCA) Michael Johnson. “This area (detecting electronics) is pretty much a new field; I think it’s going to be a great field. But basically what these dogs are trained on, especially when it comes to thumb drives, hard drives, etc., is a specific odor emitted by a material that’s made of a certain composition. You could train a dog on baby powder if you had to.

At this time only a few agencies across the county even train their dogs to smell components of electronic media. As for those agencies who do, they are typically approached by a task force asking for assistance in a specialized cause. That’s what happened recently in Bradenton, Florida. The Crimes Against Children Unit approached police following the Jared Fogle case and basically asked,“Can we do this here?”

S ix te e n -m o n th -o ld G ia w o rk s w ith

th e M a n a te e C o u n ty S h e r if f ’s O ff ic e in

B ra d e n to n , F la . S he is t ra in e d to d e te c t

an d lo c a te e le c tro n ic dev ic es such as

D V D s, USB d riv e s an d SD cards.

Photos courtesy of Manatee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

Meet GiaDennis “Richie” Cunningham of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office in Bradenton was intrigued. He had spent the better part of the last 18 years researching canine behavior as it relates to their natural instinct and works to develop the bond between handler and dog. He says, “A dog will do what the handler wants out of respect for the han­dler.” Cunningham’s own dog was shot and killed in 2001 on a carjacking call. Manatee County Sheriff’s Office cur­rently has nine dual purpose dogs, two single-purpose narcotic dogs and a ballistics firearms dog (rescue), and so now they’ve added one more to the mix: a dog that specializes in electronics and cellphones.

Says Cunningham: “I have spent a good deal of my personal time and money traveling to learn from those that are held in high regard in the fields of canine instincts and behavior. I have also studied a good deal of empirically supported research on canine behavior.I used all of what I have learned, along with my law enforcement canine experi­ence, to develop the training program we use [here]”. He works closely with canine trainer Deputy Tom Franklin to ensure the highest quality training for both handler and canine. They typically acquire untrained canines at a young age, around 15 to 17 months old. Gia, the newest patrol canine, was about eight months old when she was rescued from a local shelter.

“Gia is younger than we usually start with, but she was worth the risk on the front-end for the reward on the back­end,” says Cunningham.

The young age of the canine allows for a stronger bond and allows the dog to naturally develop their social standing

in the pair. “The young canine develops their instinctual role in the pack as the beta to the handler. Mature canines that are paired with handlers will require more physical correction to put them in their place, as they have developed their instinctual behaviors by way of dealers and/or sporting dog programs. We spend extra time on the initial bonding stage to make the training phase less stressful.”

Today 17-month-old Gia has already performed a handful of search warrants. Cunningham took training up a notch when he passed out sanitized thumb drives to people around the unit to hide at their homes so Gia could find them.

“The state attorney hid a thumb drive... in his office area and she went over and alerted. That was only about three weeks into her training,” he says.

What’s more important- breed or bond?Like Cunningham, APCA’s Johnson agrees success is all about repetition and conditioning. He says trainers typically need to present an odor at least 40 times before a dog really grasps it.

Johnson anticipates dogs will con­tinue to play a bigger role in child pornography and human trafficking cases. Investigators will still need search

warrants to find items like hard SD cards and USBs... but the dog might be the one to find where they are hidden away—and much quicker!

Are some types of breeds better than others at specialized sniffing? Cadaver dogs are typically German Shepherds and pit bulls. And although you’ll often find Labs in the spotlight, some sheriffs offices might recruit a mixed breed. Todd Jordan, the Labrador Bear’s “dog whisper­er” in the Jared Fogle case, candidly told NBC, “Labs are the best on this, they’ll do anything to please their owner.” But that could have just been a case of personal bias. In short, the jury’s out.

APCA’s Johnson says that most times “law enforcement doesn’t get tied into breeds.” Public safety dogs are bred for performance, not looks. A good relation­ship with the handler is imperative.

Cunningham agrees. “Just about

Lt. Richie Cunningham, Detective Joni Zimmerman and K9 Gia. Joni Zimmerman is a

detective in the Crimes Against Children Unit (CAC). She keeps K9 GIA with her during her normal duties. K9 Gia assists other law enforcement agencies as needed.

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18 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY I SEPTEMBER 2016 I w w w .officer.com

Are you ready for a sniff-off?The APCA Sniff-Off began in 2004.

Law enforcement agencies across

the country bring their four-legged

partners to participate in differ­

ent scenarios and each team is

evaluated on a points system. For

examples, dogs must find drugs

alongside a vehicle or inside a

building. At the end, three teams

are awarded plaques.

"It’s all in fun and it keeps

teams motivated,” says APCA

President Michael Johnson. “Some

of these teams train for weeks and

weeks beforehand. It shows train­

ers what their weaknesses are, and

what to work on.”

One bad habit that’s easy to

slip into is conditioning. Teams

have the tendency to train at the

same place, and some of it ’s due

to a lack of options. “If you keep

going to the same location it pro­

grams the dog to perform like a

robot in that location. You always

have to challenge them," he says.

Next year's Sniff-Off will be March

4 in Indiana (www.theapca.com).

Zimmerman gets when she alerts.“A strong bond established at the

start will shift the canine to an ‘I want to work for my partner,’ from an 1 have to work for my partner’ mentality. 1 have observed the need for physi­cal corrections to be reduced by 75 percent or more. Our canines are very

effective at odor and patrol work, and are happier in the process.”

Based on the calls and questions Lt. Cunningham has received since word got about Gia and her abilities, it would seem this loyal rescue is blazing a new trail in policing, and even has a long and success­ful career ahead of her. LET

anything you want to find, a dog has that capability. It’s all about the bond. I had Detective Zimmerman (Gia’s handler) and Gia spend several weeks bonding prior to the start of her odor work. Gia was finding thumb drives before she was a year old. Though we still use many traditional reward methods, she seems to be more con­cerned with the excitement Detective Circle 59 on Reader Service Card

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