Bartholomew County to pursue adding electronics-sniffing police dog

Bartholomew County officials are looking into acquiring a new police dog trained to sniff out electronic storage devices and comfort children.

The county’s task force investigating crimes against children asked county commissioners for the go ahead to begin the process this week.

Major John Martoccia, chief deputy with the sheriff’s department and Jay Frederick criminal investigator with the prosecutor’s office made the request at Monday’s commissioners meeting. Frederick said that the dog would be trained in electronic storage detection, able to detect the smell of materials used in electronic storage devices. That would be useful in searches for tiny devices that are easily hidden such as thumbnail sized micro storage cards.

Most often the dogs trained for the role are Labrador or Golden retrievers, because of their gentle nature Frederick said. The dog would also be trained as a therapy dog to help sooth traumatized children and those working on such cases.

If acquired, the dog would be available for use throughout the region.

Commissioners approved the process to explore acquiring a dog.