BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) — The Bellevue Police Department added an electronic storage device K-9 to its unit.
Officer Quinn is a two-year old black lab. The dog is the first electronic storage device police dog in Nebraska and the 30th in the United States. The dog's purpose is to detect for electronic devices, such as iPhone's, USB's or SD cards, sensing an odor that the devices give off.
"We had a couple of cases where I believe we missed something as law enforcement officers," said Detective Roy Howell, Officer Quinn's partner in the Bellevue Police Department. "A dog who could pick up the odor could say we need to look here."
The electronic storage device K-9 helped put away former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. Along with child pornography cases, the dogs have been used in fraud, espionage and homicide cases.
"Tell me one thing that doesn't leave a digital footprint anymore," said Detective Howell. "You can go down the street anymore without being on somebody's camera."
Officer Howell's goal is to have the dog be able to detect objects behind walls, in mattresses or underwater.
"I want to get her to be that dog that can find something 18 inches under the wall or underwater or behind a wall or under the carpet," Detective Howell said.
The Bellevue Police Department received the funding for Officer Quinn through a private donation.
Officer Quinn has been with Detective Howell since November 3rd. She has not been sent out on duty yet but is approved to go out whenever she gets the call.
Watch Phil Bergman's story in the above video.
