Posted on 08/24/2010 8:28:12 AM PDT by smokingfrog
GALT, Calif. -- They've been finding hidden bombs, drugs and corpses for years, using their sense of smell to locate what their human handlers would otherwise have to see in plain sight.
Now dogs are being deployed in prisons to help curb one of the most serious problems confronting corrections officials: smuggled cell phones.
It turns out that cell phones smell. And their distinct odor can lead a well-trained canine to a device hidden under a mattress, stashed into a wall or tucked into a fan or radio.
Inmates use them to arrange drug deals, plot escapes and attacks, coordinate riots and harass victims.
"They have 24 hours a day to figure out how to hide these from us," said Sgt. Wayne Conrad, who leads the K-9 program in California. "I couldn't tell you how long it would take me to go through every nook and cranny in a cell. But when these dogs work, they pick up the odor and go right to it."
For security reasons, Conrad won't say what the scent is, but says dogs can find it whether the phone is on or off, broken into pieces or concealed in another electronic device.
Cell phone sniffing dogs have been dispatched in prisons in a handful of states, including California, Florida, Texas, Virginia and Maryland, as other methods to heel the problem have fallen short or run into regulatory or budgetary constraints.
There are currently 14 dogs working in California's 33 prisons. Five of them are specifically trained as cell phone sleuths.
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
I need one of those.
Since cell phones HAVE to use radio waves why not find them that way?
Inmate's cell phones REALLY REALLY smell! (One would imagine...)
Install equipment that records all the calls and where they were made from. You might even get the crooks to think finks are ratting them out.
Sending Daleks seemed too controversial.
True but K9 could usually hold his own.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.