The agents of the crime fighting non-governmental agency Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) use dogs which were specifically trained to detect the unique scents of data storage devices. But who would go to great lengths to hide something like a USB drive or an iPad?

Data storage device sniffing dog ‘CHiP’ located this hidden iPad with evidence of human trafficking on it

The original reason for training these dogs is the absolute worst type of crime; the sale of childrens’ bodies for sex.

OUR was founded by a Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) agent who was tired of having his teams’ reach held back by the limits of US law enforcement. The vast majority of human trafficking occurs outside of the US, in areas and involving entities which DHS operations could never end in a US courtroom. For that reason, since their inception OUR has taken part in missions with the participation and oversight of other countries. Now, with these dogs, they have had the opportunity to add extra teeth – pun intended – to domestic anti-trafficking operations.

The rescuers are rescues themselves

Operation Underground Railroad says that every one of their 10 dogs they employ across the US are Labrador retrievers who were facing euthanization before they recruited them. OUR finds the dogs in shelters across the US, and are selected based on their age, health, and personality. Retrievers are invariably friendly and obedient – provided they haven’t been too badly abused, but often even the ones who have can be rehabilitated.

Trainers say that Labrador retrievers are a breed that not only has the right energy level and temperament for ‘scent work’, but that same temperament makes them often useful as therapy dogs – a crucial quality, as human trafficking busts almost always include some very traumatized victims. Comforting the victims is not only good for them, but good for the investigation. The more calm the victim, the better they’re able to describe the crimes.

The scent the dogs seek is really the scent of a circuit board, especially a warm one. Dogs were first trained to smell circuit boards in 2012 when the Connecticut State Police came up with the idea of training dogs to search for them. They realized that every time they executed a search warrant that involved child pornography, the biggest challenge was locating the data storage devices. Devices like USB drives are extremely easy to hide. Child porn collectors sometimes go to extraordinary lengths; installing hard drives inside walls, atop false ceilings, you name it. They don’t even need to have a physical connection to be accessed; a WiFi router can take care of that, easy. So what do you do?

From the laboratory to the labradors

FBI electronics-sniffing dog ‘Iris’ finds an SD card hidden inside a wall during her training

After confirming at conferences across the country that it was indeed a widespread problem, the Connecticut troopers sought the aid of Dr. Jack Hubball, a chemist at their forensic laboratory. Dr. Hubbal ran several tests on the air emitted from printed circuit boards (PCB’s) until he isolated a chemical compound called triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO). TPPO is used as a coating to help dissipate the heat given off a PCB as it’s used. This chemical was especially present in storage devices, due to the amount of heat generated as they’re used. He also found that a compound called hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone (HPK) could be detected from removable media such as DVDs. Thus the trafficker’s data was cornered, as long as they didn’t use strong encryption. Even if they did, witness testimony and plea bargaining could be leveraged to get them to give up the passwords – but only if the devices/media had been found.

After the chemicals were narrowed down, the trainers took it from there. The first dogs recruited were two labs named Selma and Thoreau, who were actually flunking out of a guide dogs training program for the visually impaired. They just had too much energy. They’d rather play fetch than sit and walk patiently with someone, they’d never make it as seeing-eye dogs. They were perfect.

High energy, obedient dogs are the best for scent work, and the Connecticut police K9 training program was very successful in getting them to play their games, for snacks. For their entire diet, actually; scent dogs only eat as a reward. So Selma and Thoreau earned their meals by identifying smaller and smaller amounts of TPPO and HPK, until they could find a hard drive hidden in a wall, or a thumb drive stashed in the ceiling. Their training continued all day, every day, as often as two very active dogs needed to be fed.

By 2013 Selma went to work for the state police in Rhode Island, and Thoreau stayed in Connecticut to work for their state patrol’s Computer Crimes Unit. Selma has already worked on over 100 cases so far, mostly child pornography, but also looking for data storage involved in a range of other types of crime, such as homicides, parole violations, and ID theft.

OUR takes the lead

Since the Connecticut State Police pioneered the use of dogs for data storage detection, the non-governmental organization OUR has worked to empower and support law enforcement across the US with the training necessary to produce the invaluable K9s. Their crime-fighting success has increased ever since. In 2019, for instance, the OUR dogs have helped with 65 operations, 101 arrests, and 14 rescues.

The extraordinary ESD dogs have become integral assets in the fight against child sex trafficking from Alabama to Washington State. To date, these skilled dogs have sniffed out over 100 evidence-holding devices.

Anyone interested in receiving first-hand experience by meeting an OUR data-sniffing dog and their trainer can email info@ourrescue.org.

OUR also invites anyone interested in supporting their fight against modern-day slavery by joining their Abolitionist Club with a monthly donation.