LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — K-9 Detective Spike is a regular in parades, community events, and around the Luzerne County Courthouse.
While his charm and sense of humor are enough to make anyone a fan,
It's his nose that is Spike's claim to fame.
"The dog is trained to smell a specific chemical, which is abbreviated for TPPO," explained Detective Chaz Balogh.
Triphenylphosphine oxide is used to coat electronic storage devices that contain memory.
"Cell phones, tablets. You have laptops, internal and external hard drives, USB thumb drives, hidden cameras, tracking devices, such as Apple air tags, obviously, iPads, anything that will store data, where individuals will store images and or videos of child sexual exploitation," explained Balogh.
Spike and Balogh have been working together at the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office for six years.
"We've done hundreds of search warrants," added Balogh. "Majority of our search warrants result in an arrest."
So we came to this building on the Luzerne County fairgrounds to be a part of Spike's every day training.
"He has to actually find electronic storage spices in order to be fed," explained Balogh.
Before we can give Spike his breakfast, we hide electronic storage devices around the house. Some of the items are obvious ESDs, like an iPad or a phone.
Others have them hidden inside.
"Which investigators can easily miss," added Balogh.
Sometimes, items like water bottles, books, fake household items, or hairbrushes are altered into discreet containers used to hide ESDs.
In the video above, the words 'seek' and 'show me' guide Spike through the home. In less than five minutes, Spike found every item hidden in the home and then some.
Making this not only a successful training session but also a breakfast worthy of a nap.