A Police Dog that Discovers Porn Files
Dogs have such an amazing sense of smell and they never cease to surprise us. We’ve learned that when dogs are properly trained, they can detect different types of electronic storage devices. This is the case with URL, a police dog that helps solve cases related to crimes involving minors.
URL, the police dog that discovers child pornography
URL is a beautiful black labrador that was rescued twice from a kennel. And, when he was only 18 months old, he became famously known as the ‘porn dog’. This nickname stems from his ability to find electronic storage material, some of which can contain files linked to child pornography, among other things.
This dog works with Detective Cameron Hartman in Weber County (Utah). He’s one of the few dogs in the USA that’s trained to detect the chemical compounds that the following devices emit:
- Removable disks
- Memory cards
- Cellphones
- Tablets
And, while it’s clear that the animal doesn’t know what these devices contain, he has contributed to many cases. He does so by finding evidence in crimes related to child pornography.
Dogs have an extraordinary olfactory capacity that allows their owners to train them to detect the chemical compounds that different electronic devices emit. So, they’re able to find devices that may contain material such as child pornography
Learn about URL’s findings
Hartman is a member of the Task Force for Crimes Against Children and is excited about the potential that URL shows. And, while the detective can’t provide details about any open cases, he can tell us about some of URL’s other achievements.
This police dog has found evidence relating to pornography in several different raids. These raids were carried out while investigating cases of sexual crimes against children and child trafficking.
For example, URL was able to detect a USB memory stick that was inside a closed jar along with other items. This closed jar was inside a box, and surrounded by other objects. This dog’s nose is amazing!
Bear, another police dog that helped unravel crimes against children
URL isn’t the only expert on the subject in North America. Before URL, another dog named Bear had the same job. This police dog was the key to incriminating Jared Fogle, the former promoter of a chain fast food restaurant. This man was hiding material related to child pornography on USB flash drives in his home.
Bear also worked on the case against Marvin Sharp, a former gymnastics coach accused of child abuse. Sharp ended up committing suicide in prison. The dog found a safe where Sharp was hiding several memory cards that contained evidence against him.
There are also other dogs that work on the east coast, and there’s even one in Alaska. However, URL is the only specialized dog in the Rockies region. For that reason, he can be requested to work at a federal level and in different states.
We should mention that training one of these police dogs to detect electronic material requires three hours of work per day for five months.
We appreciate dogs’ powerful sense of smell
Dogs’ olfactory capacities are far superior to those of humans. Their nose has around 120 million cells that are sensitive to smell, while people don’t even have 5 million.
And, experts have proven that no machine can outdo their sense of smell. So, these animals are irreplaceable when it comes to detection. Some examples of what they detect are:
- Explosives
- Fire accelerants
- Drugs
- People trapped in landslides
- Food that may contain bacteria
Experts point out that owners can train dogs to detect any type of substance, as it’s like a game for them.