Thurston County detectives are getting a black Labrador retriever that can find a hidden USB drive in minutes, a task that currently takes investigators hours of searching by hand.
The Thurston County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a transfer of ownership Tuesday, Aug. 18, allowing the nonprofit Defenders for Children to give the electronic detection K9 to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.
The nonprofit is covering the dog, training and deployment costs through a grant.
Sheriff Derek Sanders announced the acquisition at the commissioners' meeting, saying the dog will primarily support crimes-against-children investigations.
"They are specifically trained to sniff out the chemicals that are made inside electronic devices, so that when people record inappropriate images of children and things like that and hide those devices, the dog can find it," Sanders told commissioners, according to the Nisqually Valley News.
The vote was unanimous.
How it works
Electronic detection K9s are trained to pick up trace amounts of triphenylphosphine oxide and hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone, chemical compounds found on circuit boards inside USB drives, microSD cards, cell phones and hidden cameras.
According to Defenders for Children, the dogs locate on average at least two additional devices after human investigators have already completed their own search.
The young black lab is one of only three electronic detection K9s in the region. The other two are based in Portland and Seattle.
Nonprofit covers costs
Defenders for Children acquires and trains electronic detection K9s before pairing them with law enforcement agencies. The grant covers the dog, all training for the assigned detective and expenses when the sheriff's office deploys the K9 to assist neighboring jurisdictions.
Sanders said he expects the dog will be called on by other agencies in the area for their own crimes-against-children cases.
Nearly 90% of child sexual exploitation cases involve digital content stored on devices that perpetrators buy and sell, according to the nonprofit. In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Cyber Tipline received 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation.
What's next
A sheriff's office detective will travel to a Defenders for Children training site to meet the dog and complete required training before bringing it back to Thurston County.
No timeline for the dog's arrival has been announced.
Beyond search warrants, the K9 will also help de-escalate tense scenes and provide comfort to child victims during interviews. When not deployed in the field, the lab will serve as an office dog at the sheriff's department.
