GOOD DOGGIE

Willow The Police Dog Sniffs Out Internet Crimes Against Children

LAPPL News Watch
February 19, 2020

Since she started her new job in San Diego a couple months ago, Willow the English Labrador has already proven her worth to handler Ron Burleson. The 2-year-old pup, specially trained to sniff out electronic storage devices, has gone out on a half dozen warrant and probation searches with Burleson, an investigator with the county district attorney’s office.

On one outing, she found a cellphone that law enforcement officers had missed. “We are confident we are going to be able to find things that were missed before,” Burleson said.

The pair is assigned to San Diego’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a group that draws upon resources from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to target offenders who use the internet to sexually exploit children.

Decked out in a special vest that touts her electronic detection abilities, Willow looks for a distinct chemical compound used in electronic devices such as cellphones, thumb drives, hard drives and memory cards. Such devices are often hidden by predators and can be difficult for law enforcement officers to find.