Police Departments Are Training Dogs To Sniff Out Thumb Drives (cnet.com)

A CNET report provides some insight on an elite K-9 search class that trains dogs to sniff out electronics, including phones, hard drives and microSD cards smaller than your thumb. From the report: Only one out of every 50 dogs tested qualifies to become an electronic storage detection, or ESD, dog, says Kerry Halligan, a K-9 instructor with the Connecticut State Police. That's because it's a lot harder to detect the telltale chemical in electronics than it is to sniff out narcotics, bombs, fire accelerants or people, she says. But Labrador retrievers like Harley, with their long snouts and big muzzles, can pick up even the faintest olfactory clues. These tech-seeking dogs are helping law enforcement find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives, uncover concealed phones, nab white-collar evidence kept on hard drives and track calls stored on SIM cards. The most famous case occurred in 2015, when a Labrador retriever named Bear found a hidden flash drive containing child pornography in the home of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. The district attorney called the discovery vital to Fogle's conviction.

Comments

...and track calls stored on SIM cards.

[denzacar]

These tech-seeking dogs are helping law enforcement find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives, uncover concealed phones, nab white-collar evidence kept on hard drives and track calls stored on SIM cards.

Track calls? That's SOME nose on them dogs.

Re:...and track calls stored on SIM cards.

[spiritgreywolf]

Heck, it had me at "find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives"! Wow! they have biologic quantum decrypting noses?

Anyone that puts stuff (illegal OR personal) on a USB stick in anything other than an encrypted volume is an idiot. Someone grabs my USB keys and they get nothing but random data bits.

Re:...and track calls stored on SIM cards.

[TheInternetGuy]

I mean you could just rely on precedence from the People Vs. O.J Simpson , and the inherent protection of the USB port.

- Prosecutor sticks drive in USB port, fumbles, turns it over , fumbles some more...
- Defense: Your Honor, members of the Jury, if the drive wont fit , you must acquit.

For those wondering how they get past the 'noise'

[Kaenneth]

They use the dogs on rooms that all visible electronics have already been removed, so only hidden electronics would be in the room.

Blue smoke sniffers?

[mveloso]

The dogs, they can sniff out the blue smoke before it escapes. Good dog!

Seriously, what is the chemical they're looking for?

Re:Blue smoke sniffers?

[AHuxley]

Any chemical the K9 got a reward for in the past.
Say the correct German word and a K9 unit will alert too.
Great to search a car, van, truck in the USA as the K9 is constitution approved. The way the dog stands is like a fax machine and a search warrant.

Blind Tests Have Shown Dogs Don't Work

[Anonymous Coward]

X sniffing dogs mostly don't work. They're just probable cause on a leash. I'm not saying that dogs can't sniff some of this stuff. I'm saying most of the time, they're just used to get around the constitution by a zealous cop.

Re:Blind Tests Have Shown Dogs Don't Work

[Dread_ed]

False positives or false negatives are only part of the problem with the function and action of K9 units as a whole.

Simply put, it is impossible for a judge, attorney, or a citizen to determine if a trained dog is either:

a) actually detecting contraband, or
b) reacting to a specific clandestine command which triggers the dog to signal a "hit," thus nullifying your 4th amendment protection illegally, and providing law enforcement with the perfect opportunity to "find" the contraband they brought with them in order to indict you.

The situation above appears indistinguishable from actual guilt to everyone except the dog and the handler.

Re:Blind Tests Have Shown Dogs Don't Work

[SuricouRaven]

Or c) Reacting to a subtle signal that even the handler doesn't realise. Dogs have been selectively bred to pick up on human emotions better than many humans can - they are quite capable of recognising when the handler would like them to detect something, and learning that a detection in those circumstances means a happy handler.

Probable Cause

[rsilvergun]

Doesn't matter what the dog sniffs. If they stick their noise in your belongings that establishes enough probable cause for a search. Might as well use a dousing rod.

Re:Marijuana dogs...

[PolygamousRanchKid]

One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down.

If Illinois legalizes pot, maybe they won't need so many sheriffs . . . and they will have to be put down.

In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops think

[raymorris]

Someone did an interesting experiment. They invited police dogs, with their handlers, to an experiment. There were drugs hidden in certain places in a room. The test was explained to the cops "we want to see if your dog finds the drugs hidden under the blue bowl". The dogs all reliably signaled on the blue bowl.

The drugs were, of course, under the red bowl. The dog /handlers reliably signaled where the handler wanted them to, and not where the drugs were.

That's not to say there aren't a FEW dogs and handlers who are very good. The majority of them completely fail basic tests.

Re:Marijuana dogs...

[Wycliffe]

One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down. Not re-purposed or sent to retire with their handlers (like usually happens when they are no longer able to do their jobs). Euthanized. It's the "Think of the doggos!" approach to keeping pot illegal.

I had a friend whose police dog got sick. The state decided not to treat it and instead put the dog down. The officer didn't have a say. Even if he wanted to pay for the treatment himself, it is not his dog, the dog is the property of the state. The dog got a full honors funeral paid for by the state but the state owns the dog not the officer. Even when the dog gets injured in the line of duty, many times they won't let the dog retire and live out their natural lives for 2 reasons. One is that the handler is an active duty officer and will likely get a new dog. It wouldn't work well for the officer to have 2 dogs even if one was retired. And they also can't put the dog up for adoption because police dogs are also trained to attack and it would be unsafe.

Re:In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops th

[rtb61]

This comment high lights the reality of drug sniffing dogs. Did the same person who put the drugs under the bowl, handle the other bowl and hence spoiled the experiment. In the case of dogs sniffing electronics, well, that is a scam and lie and devious misdirection. So what did they sniff, why the person handling the device and the device is likely to be pretty onerous considering what the person is doing and will be handling the device before and after. So smelling the person and not the device but the whole house should smell of the person, a little yes but anything they touch with smelly body parts will smell more. The reason US police dogs fail, largely because county mounties and they don't really care and are just filling quota and the dog is not properly trained and is just for show and for occasionally eating people randomly for fun. US law enforcing dogs perform badly because training is poor and the training is poor because they don't care about results, they will just lie any how and corrupt courts will back it up.

Best prank at concert with drug sniffing dogs, coat the ground on approaches with bong water and let the fun begin as everyone who steps in it, is arrested for drugs in their shoes.

Re:Easy problem to solve

[dargaud]

Well, from experience I know that an SD card can go through a dog and still work...

Re:In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops th

[Ogive17]

I'm surprised this got a +5 interesting without any actual evidence of the study or even a link to an article.

I've been to a training academy for police dogs. I got to hide the contraband myself and the handlers were not present. All 3 dogs being trained that day had no problem locating the stash.

Can the handlers have an influence on the dog? Absolutely. That is likely poor training of the handler, though.

Here's a study and an article

[raymorris]

Here's an article:
http://bigthink.com/neurobonke...

About this similar study:
https://link.springer.com/arti...

I'm sure you can find more with about 60 seconds on Google.

Re:In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops th

[Reziac]

Yes, the dogs will find actual stashes. But they'll also alert on nonexistent stashes, if they believe they should (especially if reward-trained -- then you get "offered" behavior). As the Springer link lays out: Handler expectations influence the behavior of trained dogs, and even when you =think= you're giving no cues, the dog will pick up on it.

[pro dog trainer here; doesn't surprise me in the least, especially with highly reactive breeds like German Shepherds.]