WEBER COUNTY, Utah, Jan. 5, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The Weber County Sheriff‘s Office has announced the death of a former K-9 officer who retired a year ago this month.
“It is with a heavy heart that the Weber County Sheriff’s Office announces the untimely passing of retired Police Service Dog, URL, on Dec. 30, 2022. URL was just shy of 8 years old, and had retired in January of 2022 from police service. URL was enjoying retirement with his original handler Detective Cameron Hartman of the Weber County Attorney’s Office (formerly with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office), after a brief placement with another handler from July 2021 to January of 2022.”
URL was not bred to be a police dog, the WCSO statement says, “and instead had a very rough start as a ‘pound puppy,’ and bounced through two different animal shelters and one foster home within the first few months of his life. Initially URL was deemed to be untrainable due to his behavior, but the Central Indiana Labrador Rescue & Adoption (CILRA) recognized URL’s unique talents and drive and intervened and committed themselves to finding URL a proper home. Through their efforts, URL made his way into training to become a very unique police service dog.”
URL was trained as an Electronic Storage Detection Canine (ESDK9). URL was trained in the infancy of a nationwide program intended to include Electronic Storage Detection in police services. URL was only the fourth dog to be certified as such in the United States. URL was purchased and trained as part of a joint operation between the Weber County Sheriff’s Office and the Weber Morgan Narcotics Strike Force, the WCSO says.
“ESDK9’s are very unique in the police service dog world due to being trained and rewarded in a different manner than dual-purpose, bite work, drug sniffing or bomb dogs….
“URL’s unique training and nickname ‘The Porn Sniffing Dog’ earned him quite a bit of interest resulting in hundreds of local, national and international news media stories, including Inside Edition, The New York Daily News, Breitbart, The Drudge Report, The Washington Post, The Kim Komando Show, The Daily Mail (UK), and The Sun (UK) just to name a few.”
URL and his handler, Detective Cameron Hartman, executed more than 2,000 search warrants obtaining countless pieces of digital evidence leading to the arrests and prosecution of many offenders, the statement says.
Some of the most remarkable finds of evidence from “URL” were finding a USB drive disguised as a key on a keyring full of keys, finding a micro-SD card in a closed baby jar that was in a small pencil box full of items that was also placed in a large cedar chest full of miscellaneous items, an SD Card that was high on a shelf in a St. George, Utah residence, a cell phone hidden in a book, and even cell phone parts that were hidden in a wall behind a toilet in the Weber County Jail.
From URL’s Hartman:
“Dear URL, what a privilege it was to serve alongside you. URL, my heart is broken and still filled with so many memories and emotions. I am so lucky to have been able to get to know you and serve the citizens of Utah and its surrounding states with you. You brought so much joy to the children who were home during search warrants, the countless kids of all ages as I got to show you off at dozens of public schools, colleges, public demonstrations, and church groups.
“So many incredible experiences and opportunities that you brought me as I was just the guy at the boring end of the leash holding on for dear life. Thank you, URL, for trusting me, for working so hard, for loving me unconditionally, and for being part of my family.”
