GREENVILLE, S.C. — Close to 20 police dogs trained to find hidden phones, drives and other electronics are in Greenville this week for advanced work with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.
The sessions are run with Defenders for Children, a nonprofit that got its start in Greenville when it gave the sheriff’s office its first electronic storage detection K-9. The group has since placed 34 of the dogs with agencies in 12 states, and organizers credit the teams with finding more than 6,000 devices.
The dogs key on a chemical used in nearly all electronic storage devices to keep them from overheating, which lets them locate items as small as USB sticks and microSD cards. The group says a dog can have as many as 300 million scent receptors, against 5 to 6 million in people.
Investigators lean on the dogs in child exploitation cases and other crimes where key evidence is stored on small devices that are easy to hide. The nonprofit says the K-9s cut the time, staffing and cost of searches, and that each handler commits to ongoing training to keep the team sharp.
Section: More Greenville SC crime news
Filed under: Greenville SC Public Safety News
