WEBER COUNTY, Utah, June 21, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The Weber County Sheriff’s office introduced Utah’s first electronic detection K-9 to the public Tuesday afternoon.
The dog, named URL and nicknamed Porn Dog, is a 16-month-old black lab who was recently acquired from the Jordan Detection K-9 in Greenfield, Ind.
URL is one of only nine certified ED K-9s in the country, and he is the only one in the Western States region. He was trained by the same trainer as Bear, the ED K-9 who played a key role in the arrest of Subway pitchman, Jared Fogle.
ED K-9s are specially trained to detect unique chemical compounds found in certain electronic components such as thumb drives, cellphones, SIM cards, SD cards, external hard drives, tablets and iPads.
URL was brought to Utah to help in cases of child porn, terrorism intelligence, narcotics or financial crimes information and has the ability to find evidence hidden on nearly every electronic memory device. He will also be used to find cell phones and other contraband at the correctional facility.
Rescued from a shelter as a puppy, URL went through six months of training before becoming certified. His handler, Det. Cam Hartman, has also undergone expert training and is required to be re-certified every year.
Weber Metro Narcotics Strike Force provided the funding for the K-9, and his acquisition was strongly supported by the Weber County Attorney’s Office, which will be responsible for URL’s care and deployment as he serves the Northern Utah area.
