BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — The most common kind of canines in law enforcement are ones that are known for sniffing out narcotics and explosives. But Denver with the Benton County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) has a more unique talent. The 2-year-old English Labrador works on finding electronic devices.
Denver is part of the sheriff's office electronic detection force, which includes 7 other dogs.
“He is an electronic detection dog. What he'll do is he goes out and sniffs certain electronics, such as anything that has to do with Bluetooth capabilities. So whether it's an iPhone, an iPad, a thumb drive, jump drive, hard drive, all of those things like that's his capabilities. That's what his duties are, and that's what he trains for,” BCSO Public Information Officer Lieutenant Shannon Jenkins said.
Lt. Jenkins says Denver has graduated from official K-9 training, but he’ll have to complete a renewal certification every year, so he trains multiple times a day with his handler.
“This K-9 specifically, does train daily, multiple times a day. And it's just a revolving door with the canine and the handler. So they're very close, given the fact that they have to work together, they eat together and do all those things together. So they're constantly training,” Lt. Jenkins said.
Electronic detection dogs do not have a cheap price tag. Luckily for BCSO, thanks to the Underground Railroad donated Denver to the agency.
Lt. Jenkins says it was not a simple process. The organization assesses the needs of the area when deciding on its donation.
“You have to be chosen through that program. So they looked at what we have here in Northwest Arkansas, what our need are, what our cases look like. We have an amazing cyber division that does a lot of work in Northwest Arkansas, and surrounding areas,” Lt. Jenkins adds.
The force has not only assisted in cases in Northwest Arkansas but in the rest of the state and its surrounding areas, showing the need for K-9 officers like Denver.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin says there are only 100 electronic detection dogs in the world, and with that comes a resource a lot of smaller departments and agencies don't have access to in their office internally. He says agencies with limited budgets may only be able to afford a drug detecting K-9 officer due to the cost of electronic detection dogs.
With many cases across Benton County, this is a need for the department, and Denver can positively identify nearby devices during investigations.
“He's kind of designed to come in and use do a lot of child pornography cases with us. But that doesn't just stop at child pornography-type cases or children-related cases. Anytime that we have a case that we might be looking for a device. Maybe it's a homicide, a missing person, whatever it that is generally brought in for that specific need and purpose,” Lt. Jenkins said.
Denver is the second electronic detection dog in the state, the first one is Lucy at the Attorney General's office in Little Rock. Griffin says, “We use Lucy in day-to-day operations. She is a participant when we execute search warrants, for example. In fact, she was recently involved in a search that uncovered some illicit illegal materials.”
Denver and Lucy are trained by “the same sort of training that dogs would, when they do other sorts of work, such as sniffing for drugs, they become familiar with a particular scent, in this case, that of electronics. And they are rewarded for identifying that. And over time, they learn that, when they find it, they're fed,” Lt. Jenkins said.
Training for electronic detection officers never stops, as they try to teach the dogs that's how they earn their food.
“In this particular case, instead of sniffing for drugs, or other sorts of contraband, … [They have] been taught to smell the elements, the metals, and the chemicals, that are present in storage devices, hard drives, thumb drives, and, electronic devices. And so it's very similar to sniffing out a particular sort of illegal drug, like cocaine or whatever. But in this case, to electronics,” Griffin said.
Unlike some K-9 units, both Denver and Lucy are trained to show comfort to those who need it.
“Some of these kids that have been with us have been with us through multiple cases. And so having Denver there to be able to comfort them and for them to have something that's familiar to them is really helpful,” Lt. Jenkins explained.
In addition, Griffin agreed and said Lucy “also often consoles and comforts victims that we may find in the course of our investigations, particularly juvenile victims. So there's another role there, because Lucy's not just talented, and a hard worker, Lucy's nice and people love Lucy.”
Denver has already located devices for cases on search warrants. Lt. Jenkins says if other local law enforcement agencies need Denver on a search, they're happy to assist in those investigations.
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