The newest member of Pennsylvania’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force is more than a puppy face. Charlie, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever, is a key part in ensuring pedophiles are brought to justice.
The Labrador was trained to be an electronic storage detection dog (ESD). These special service dogs are essentially a hyper-effective extra pair of eyes for investigators pursuing evidence of child pornography. According to a in-depth feature on ESD from the TechRepublic, the best dogs for this kind of work are Labradors. An ICE news release detailed Charlie’s abilities and contributions.
“As an electronic-detection K9, Charlie has been trained to track the distinct chemical smell of small electronics that humans are not able to detect. Her unique abilities allow her to pinpoint the exact location of electronic devices and locations where electronics were located previously. Charlie is in the courthouse daily and enlists her skills by joining ICAC detectives during their investigations and the execution of warrants.”
Charlie is not the only crime-fighting pup in the national ICAC task force. Franklin County, in Ohio, starting working with Ruger in 2016. The first two dogs, Selma and Thoreau, were trained for electronic detection back in 2013. The most famous ESD is Bear, who in 2015, found a vital piece of evidence that led to the conviction of Jared Fogle, the former Subway spokesman.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan praised the addition of ESD to their task force, saying, ” Amazingly, Charlie can find elements of a crime that even the most seasoned investigator can miss, which are essential for prosecution.”
It isn’t cheap to train dogs for this work — the price of a single dog from a private seller is around $10,000 not including the additional costs of owning a dog. But from the arrests and cases these dogs are helping to make, it seems like a pretty good deal.
Gabriella Munoz is a commentary desk intern with the Washington Examiner and a student at Georgetown University.
