A Nose for Trouble: K-9s Used to Locate Child Pornography

Their nose has about 300 million olfactory receptors. They are used to locate drugs, pinpoint bombs and take down criminals.

Now, K-9s are fighting crime with a surprising twist: sniffing out child pornography. Or, rather, the devices predators store them on.

This may seem like the elusive workings of fantasy, but the reality is founded in science.

After Bear, an electronic-sniffing dog, discovered evidence against former Subway star Jared Fogle, he was arrested and convicted of trading in child pornography. The case’s success sparked a renewed interest in K-9s and their ability to locate hidden storage devices, which criminals may use to store photos.

Electronic storage devices require a particular chemical as a bonding agent when they are manufactured. When this chemical was isolated by forensic science examiner Dr. Jack Hubball at the Connecticut Forensic Lab, it was used to train the canines. It is this substance that allows the tailed detectives to track down and incriminate offenders.

Todd Jordan, the trainer responsible for the program that teaches dogs to detect these devices, explains he had to rethink the entire training process, as the scent is harder to distinguish than the ones in drugs or explosives. After a year of research, he finally found success, and it may be the key to DC’s high number of child pornography cases.

State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim claims, “We were also seeing a trend here where child pornographers, rather than downloading evidence onto a computer, would download evidence onto a removable device and then hide that device in their house.” K-9s may be the answer.

Since 2016, there have been over 300 federal prosecutions for child sex crimes in the DC, Maryland and Virginia regions.

“Child pornography and sexual assault are two of the strictest law violations,” states a criminal defense attorney with The Law Offices of John W. Tumelty. Yet cases have been rising dramatically in the DC area for nearly two decades.

Experts suspect greater internet access is one cause, as well as the efficiency through which it allows communicating.

In an effort to fight back, an elite force of electronic-sniffing dogs is hitting the streets. Currently, about two dozen K-9s are deployed across the nation, but that number is expected to grow exponentially because of the conveniences storage devices offer for criminal activities.

DC police want in on the hype. Officials are discussing plans to bring a similar task force to the area. The discussion has risen partially in response to the increase in state funding in Maryland following Alicia’s Law, so named after Alicia Kozakiewicz, the survivor of a kidnapping and sexual abuse case.

Deliberations also occurred shortly after thousands of police officers congregated in DC in May to honor their fallen brethren: the K-9 dogs who were killed in service. In 2017, 24 police K-9 dogs were killed across the US.

Although dogs have long been spouted as man’s best friend, very soon, they may be every child’s, instead.