RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. – Online child pornography is a societal scourge and the latest tools in the fight against electronic versions of the disturbing material comes in the form of … dogs! That’s right, electronic detecting K9s are on duty and ready to find the stash that is secretly hidden by deranged adults who prey on childhood innocence.
The Child Exploitation Team combatting online child-related sex crimes in Riverside County regularly deploy two highly trained electronic detecting K9s, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.
K9 Solo, a white lab, and K9 Chewie, a chocolate lab, might be cute and lovable, but they are also very good at finding evidence that gets child predators off the street. The two dogs are among five electronic detection K9s in all of California.
They are trained to find anything from phones and tablets to storage devices and hard drives. The four-legged sleuths can track anything with a memory card, which emits a specific scent that these K9s are trained to detect.
Last week in the City of Indio, detectives were unable to find electronic devices highlighted in a search warrant. So K9s Solo and Chewie went to work. Within minutes K9 Solo detected two phones that were concealed and buried deep inside a pot in the offender’s backyard, FOX 11 reported.
The Riverside task force has served more than 400 search warrants this year. Thanks to the hard work of all involved, including Solo and Chewie, they’ve taken more than 90 offenders out of circulation.
Moreover, prosecutors heavily rely on the K9s since the evidence they find, which is often concealed in very creative places, is vital to convicting child predators.
Just like their Star Wars namesakes, Chewie and Solo are becoming well-known around the Inland Empire.
You can follow more adventures of the crime-fighting duo at their Instagram pages: @therealk9solo and @K9_chewie.
