Lake County officials introduced a new K9 officer to their ranks this week, but the four-legged investigator represents a unique approach to battling crime.
“She’s part of our family and she’s ready to work in an instant,” said special investigator Robert Beach. “She’s unbelievable.”
Grip, a 1 1/2 year-old yellow lab, is the newest member of the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office Cyber Lab.
"It is so important that we invest in every type of tool possible and to have a living, breathing, and adorable tool to add to our hard drives, our devices, and our cyber lab is incredibly exciting," said Eric Rinehart, Lake County State's Attorney.
A specialty K-9 dog, Grip was trained in Indianapolis and spent weeks bonding with her handler, special investigator Robert Beach. Together they work to fight crimes against children, finding evidence to bring criminals to justice.
“She’s such a good worker, she’s so incredible, adept at her job,” said Beach. “Also seeing what I have to see this is my comfort of that and it helps me to deal with a lot of stuff that I have to see and deal with.”
Her job is to sniff out electronic and digital devices, like laptops, cellphones, USB drives, and SD cards hidden to the naked eye.
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“Grip will alert on a chemical called TPPO, triphenylphosphine oxide and what I was told they could tell the off shoot of that chemical in parts per billion,” said Beach.
Officials say electronic detection dogs on average can help locate more than two devices per search missed by law enforcement.
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“They’ll find something whether its buried under a mattress, someone’s shoes or clocks and we’ll protect their paws and make sure the house is alright,” said Ron Wolflick, Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Commander. “When they go in there they want success for their handler and they want to find something, they call seek and find so we step back and watch—its phenomenal.
Grip is one of four detection dogs in the state of Illinois. She was donated through a grant from Defenders for Children with help from Gripple, a manufacturing company based in Aurora.
“The dogs are just another way to help them to find what is needed to prosecute the criminals and help rescue the children” said Toni Clark, Defenders for Children founder. “We encourage every law enforcement agency to really open up their hearts, put the women and children on priority on your budgets and make sure these dogs are available to them.”
Grip is the 11th electronic detection dog placed by the nonprofit nationwide, and the group hopes more police agencies will get on board with this special tool.
“I think once different departments realize that we have this resource available and that it actually works,” said Beach. “Hopefully they’re going to be able to utilize it. I think we’re going tot be able to put people away that honestly shouldn’t have contact with the public.”
