Northants police 'digi-dog' celebrates 100th deployment

The Northamptonshire Police Force’s Digital Evidence Detection dog - PD Rosie, is celebrating her 100th deployment.

Called a “digi-dog” for short, her handler, PC Sam Clark, says Rosie is trained to search for devices containing memory and storage.

That could include USB sticks, SD Cards, digital cameras, Go Pro and head mounted cameras, hard drives, sim cards, laptops/tablets, mobile phones, car keys fobs, sat navs and even cryptocurrency.

Her skills continue to secure good results for the Force including finding vital digital evidence which could otherwise have remained undiscovered, helping to bring offenders to justice, securing convictions in court, and offering reassurance for victims of crime.

Rosie's cases so far...

• Assisting the Serious Collison Investigation Unit to search a large open area for an outstanding digital item. This area was searched by officers and the item remained outstanding. PD Rosie located the item several hours later well concealed in overgrowth barely visible to the naked eye.
• Assisting the Online Child Abuse Investigation Unit with a search whereby she located a concealed mobile phone within a large bucket of children’s toys.
• Finding a mobile phone which had been concealed under a bed as part of an investigation into child sex offences. A search was conducted by officers prior to PD Rosie arriving, however nothing was found. PD Rosie located this vital evidence which assisted in the remand of the suspect who went on to receive a lengthy prison sentence of 14+ years.
• Being used numerous times for high-risk domestic violence offences where there is hidden suspected devices. The use of PD Rosie not only enhances the search ability to locate evidence but also provides reassurance to the victims, all of which have been very happy to have her there.

All of the above were key pieces of evidence for their respective investigations that would not have been located without PD Rosie’s nose!

PD Rosie’s handler PC Sam Clark said: “Working with PD Rosie is a joy and a privilege. She’s so switched-on, intuitive and a great crew mate.

“It’s amazing to see her reach her 100th deployment and to know how many people she’s helped and how many criminals are behind bars because of her work.

“I’m really proud of her and look forward to the our next 100 deployments together!”

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