sciencetech-blog

comments

Selma the police dog is on a mission to crack computer crime in the state of Connecticut.

The Labrador has been trained to pick up the scent for devices such as laptops, digital cameras and USB drives which are often used to stash illegal materials.

Despite flunking out of New York City's Guiding Eyes for the Blind program, Selma has found a new vocation sniffing out the chemical associated with electronic-storage devices.

Selma the Labrador is a Connecticut police dog who has been trained to sniff out electronic-storage devices

The pooch's work is particularly important in uncovering child pornography, which the FBI says is growing fast, Bloomberg reports.

The agency estimates that some 750,000 predators are online at any given moment with victims often found in chatrooms and on social networks.

Forensics-science veteran Jack Hubball, who helped police trained the first dog in the world to sniff out arson in 1986, took on the task of identifying the chemicals found in the electronics.

He took circuit boards, hard disks and flash drives from computers and tested each component. The expert, who has also helped police train dogs to detect narcotics and bombs, narrowed the analysis down to a single common chemical.

The dog is helping police to crack down on computer crime by sniffing out electronics (file picture)

Along with her canine pal - a golden Labrador named Thoreau - Selma was trained to detect the odor of the chemical on people's hands, concrete blocks, metal boxes and clothing. 

The dogs also had to learn to ignore distracting smells such as food and coffee, which can prove almost irresistible to the breed.

'Selma has found many devices such as digital cameras with flash cards, USB drives and external drives,' says said Selma's handler Detective George Jupin of the Connecticut State Police's Computer Crimes Unit. 'The evidence she finds has furthered investigations.'

Since going on her first assignment in October 2013, Selma has been involved in more than 50 search warrants with local and state police, as well as the FBI.

In one search, the clever pup discovered a memory card buried in a drawer inside a sewing machine. Material on the card led investigators to establish links between a suspect and the victims.

Selma has also used her sniffing skills to uncover fraudulent documents and the dog has even assisted on a homicide where the suspect used software to find information on firearms.  

Another training class for five more dogs will probably be held soon because many agencies have expressed interest.

In the meantime Jack Hubball has branched out onto a new challenge in uncovering illegal material stashed on electronics.

He is now working on identifying the unique compound in liquid crystal displays, which would be used to by dogs to sniff out the LCD screens on hidden smartphones.