Police dog combats child porn by sniffing out hard drives

By Konrad Krawczyk July 9, 2014

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The Rhode Island State Police have an awesome ally in the fight against child porn these days.

His name is Thoreau, and he’s a dog. A Golden Labrador to be exact.

Thoreau helps the Rhode Island State Police take a bite out of child pornography by sniffing out computer storage media, like hard drives, flash drives, and other equipment, the Providence Journal reports. Thoreau was trained for this very task, and so the Rhode Island State Police is using him accordingly. However, Thoreau was actually trained by the Connecticut State Police, and was graciously donated to the Rhode Island State Police force.

Thoreau has received 22 weeks of training in this area, and his presence is already paying dividends in the effort to combat child porn. In June, he found a thumb drive that contained child pornography which was hidden in a tin box that was stored inside a metal cabinet. This allowed the authorities to obtain an arrest warrant. Dog 1, child pornographer 0.

Detective Adam Houston is Thoreau’s handler, and he showed off Thoreau’s skills by walking him through an area that contained hidden computer storage media. When it was all said and done, he found a hard drive located in a plastic bag sitting on a desk’s upper shelf, along with a flash drive and a thumb drive, both of which were hidden in a drawer.

So how does Thoreau get rewarded for his noble efforts? With food, of course.

“This is how he eats every day,” Houston told the Providence Journal.

Editor’s Note: The Golden Labrador pictured above is not Thoreau. However, we are working to secure a legally usable image of the crime fighting pooch. We have contacted the Connecticut State Police, and are waiting to hear back.

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Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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