These police dogs sniff out memory cards used to hide child porn

When the Labrador retriever trained by Jordan Detection K-9 sits during a search, it’s an indication that the police dog has sniffed out what it's looking for. But the target isn't drugs or explosives. 

It's an electronic storage device with images of child pornography. And it's hidden.

“Show me,” the handler commands.

The dog points its nose and also might wag its tail or tilt its head. The USB drive or memory card is here.

Jordan Detection K-9 of Greenfield has trained some of the relatively few dogs that can perform such sleuthing.

On Thursday, two law enforcement officers graduated from a training program designed to handle these Labrador retrievers. Josh Rammel of Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Robert Givens of the Vancouver, Wash., police department's Sex Offender Unit are the newest handlers of two of about 30 dogs in the nation trained to sniff out electronic devices.

"The dogs have been a cool tool to use because some SD cards are very small, but he picks them up just like that," Rammel said. "I can't imagine how much we missed in the past just not knowing about it. Even if he could find one during a case, it would help."

For the past two weeks, Rammel and Givens have been bonding with the dogs and learning to recognize the dogs' signals.

When Rammel's new partner, Reptar, detects a hidden device, he sits down, does a ponylike high-step gallop, gets hyper and sits down again, Rammel said. 

Jordan Detection K-9 trains these dogs for about five months before they are released to handlers.

Todd Jordan, who runs the Greenfield company, gets most of the Labrador retrievers from rescues organizations. He looks for dogs that are hyper and "happy-go-lucky," he said. 

He then trains them to detect the odor of a chemical compound called triphenylphosphine oxide that is used in the production of memory boards. When the dogs are able to track the chemical, they can find small electronics such as thumb drives, portable hard drives and SD cards — even micro SD cards, which are the size of a fingernail but can contain up to 200,000 images.

The dogs help investigators find hidden evidence in child exploitation cases, including in the cases of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle, who is now in prison, and former USA Gymnastics coach Marvin L. Sharp, who committed suicide in the Marion County Jail. In the Sharp case, a dog revealed a gun safe investigators had missed. A USB thumb drive was found.

“They’ve found devices in several different crazy locations,” Jordan said. “If we’re in a hoarder house with boxes floor to ceiling, it would take investigators days to look through it. But a K-9 would take about 10 to 15 minutes to indicate a certain box. It cuts down the time for the investigators.”

The challenge for some police departments is getting the dogs.

That's where Neighborhood Electronic Detection K-9 Inc. comes in. The Greenfield nonprofit organization buys and donates the trained dogs to law enforcement officers nationwide. It helped provide the dog for Rammel.

Chuck Harsin, who runs Neighborhood Electronic Detection K-9 Inc., said he felt he had a "social and moral obligation" to help law enforcement officers buy the dogs.

"There are so many opportunities to stop crime with (these) dogs,” Harsin said. “… We found out that because of the levels of bureaucracy, it’s difficult to finance these dogs.”

So Harsin and his wife decided to get involved. Harsin formed Neighborhood Electronic Devices Inc. last year as a 501(c)3 organization in order to provide funding to buy the dogs for law enforcement agencies.

The assistance provided by such nonprofits is key. 

Chip, a dog used by Givens of the Vancouver Police Department, was donated by Operation Underground Railroad, an Anaheim, Calif., nonprofit that combats child sex trafficking.

"Had the nonprofit funds not been available, it certainly would have delayed if not prevented us from being able to get the dog," Givens said. "The nonprofit was absolutely monumental to us getting the dog so quickly."

When Givens first met Bear, the dog involved in Fogle's case, he "said that's what I want to be when I grow up."

He knew the dogs would be a "tremendous tool" in helping solve child exploitation cases, specifically those with evidence in small hidden storage devices.

"An analogy was used to illustrate it to me: It's like having a flashlight in a dark room," he said. "You're going into a dark room and looking for that one thing, the device, and having this dog is like having a flashlight."

Contact IndyStar reporter Jenny Ung at jenny.ung@indystar.com.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the nonprofit that donated the dog used by Robert Givens of the Vancouver, Wash., police department.