Find My iPhone can be a useful tool if you’ve misplaced your own device, but investigators seeking electronic evidence have a surprising approach at their disposal: electronics-sniffing dogs …
A small number of dogs have been trained to sniff out hidden electronics devices, ranging from hard drives to microSD cards, and CNET has a detailed feature on the program.
The Electronics Sniffing Dogs program was kept secret for several years, aiding in a number of convictions.
To find out, Jack Hubball, a chemist with Connecticut’s Forensic Science Laboratory, ordered thumb drives, SD cards and hard drives from multiple manufacturers. And he learned all memory devices use a chemical compound called triphenylphosphine oxide, or TPPO. That was the break they needed.
Once they had isolated the common chemical, the state’s K-9 trainers could begin to train the first ESD dog.
There are now at least 17 ESDs in the USA, used by the FBI and police departments in Alaska, Massachusetts, Missouri and Virginia.
The full piece on CNET is a fascinating read.
Photo: USA Today
