US cops train dogs to sniff out hidden electronic devices

Dogs have always been an integral part of the police force. The Mumbai police have Zanjeer and Max, who played important roles in the 1993 bomb blasts and the 26/11 terrorist attacks. There are dogs at the airport, who regularly alert the security if something is amiss. And now, we have dogs, who can detect the odours of a chemical compound that is released by flash drives and SIM cards.

In a report by CNN, URL (pronounced Earl) is a dog that is capable of sniffing out electronic storage media. Still just a pup, the 18-month-old K-9 is one of fewer than two dozen such dogs in the United States that hunt the unique chemical compounds emitted from flash drives, memory cards, cell phones, iPads and other similar devices.

Although the dog can’t tell the police if a device has electronic evidence, it is able to find devices that humans may miss. 

Video Source: NowThis Future

The US police force has just over a dozen dogs that are trained to trace electronic evidence.

Citing a case, URL’s partner Detective Cameron Hartman had told CNN about how a dog named Bear, who was also trained by the same person who trained URL, led investigators to thumb drives hidden by the spokesperson of international sandwich giant Subway, who was convicted for possessing child pornography last year.

The dogs go through a rigorous positive-reinforcement training regimen. They are rewarded with food when they "hit" on electronic storage devices. The K-9s, however, cost $10,000 (approximately Rs 6.8 lakh).

While it may take some time before police forces across India get such dogs, the cops may express interest in how they are trained, given cyber crime is a huge issue.