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State Police welcome new K-9 officers trained to sniff out electronic storage devices

MERIDEN- Connecticut State Police are continuing to advance when it comes to fighting against the use of technology to commit crime. The State Police K9 Unit ce...

MERIDEN- Connecticut State Police are continuing to advance when it comes to fighting against the use of technology to commit crime. The State Police K9 Unit celebrated it's graduating class of canines specialized in electronic storage detection.

CSP was proud to announce its 200th K9 training troop at the K9 Training Academy on Friday.

The K9 Unit consists of seven dogs and is the second class to graduate with a specialization in electronic storage device detection since 2016.

“Back in the day computers were big towers and it was easy to find the devices, now you can have a micro SD card the size of your finger and it could hold thousands of images,” State Police Detective David Aresco said.

According to police, the use of technology to commit crimes has increased over the years, making it harder for officers to find devices hiding in everyday objects such as brushes, water bottles and even shaving cream.

“It can be concealed from investigators who are looking with their eyes for something versus a canine who can search purely with their nose,” Trooper First-Class Kerry Halligan said.

The K9’s are trained to sniff out electronic storage devices such as hard drives, SD cards, cell phones and thumb drives.

The specialized training allows the dogs to assist in cases dealing with counterterrorism, child pornography, and organized crime.

The graduating class consisted of several police units including Connecticut, New York City, Louisiana and Missouri.

The Connecticut State Police K9 Unit trained the world’s first electronic storage device detection K9 back in 2012.

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