GREENWICH — In many ways, Wren is no different than an average yellow lab. She’s energetic, playful and fiercely loyal to her humans.
But Wren is no ordinary pooch. She’s a K9 with the Greenwich Police Department in neighboring Huron County, and her unique skill set could help detain some of the most heinous criminals in north central Ohio.
Wren is trained to sniff out electronic storage devices like cell phones, USB drives and SD cards. Her handler, Officer Lance Seaman, hopes that she can assist law enforcement in Huron and the surrounding counties in tracking down evidence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
“The village of Greenwich is a small village and unfortunately, in the past 18 months or so that I’ve been there, we’ve had several crimes that would involve electronics, search warrants and crimes against children,” Seaman said. “I have witnessed this stuff happening in my own zip code where people are using children to create illegal content and they’re uploading them to these popular pornographic websites.”
A report from the Department of Justice states that the “explosion of the child pornography market” has gone hand-in-hand with the expansion of the internet and other technological advancements. Perpetrators can create, share and download content anywhere with an internet connection.
CSAM can be easily shared via social networking sites, gaming devices, mobile apps or the Dark Web, which can only be accessed using a specialized web browser.
Commander Dave Frattare of the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) said reports of CSAM crimes have spiked since the pandemic began.
“It’s increased steadily since I’ve been here in 2009, but more so just in the last year and a half,” he said. “We really noticed a huge increase with more kids at home, more offenders at home.”
Frattare said the Ohio ICAC unit gets most its data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which manages a cyber tip line. Ohio is in the top five states in terms of the number of tips submitted.
“Cyber tips come to us not only from companies like Facebook and Instagram, but they also might be sent in by law enforcement or members of general public who become aware of child exploitation or child sexual abuse situations that occur on the internet,” he explained.
As of Dec. 2, there were 11,145 “cyber tips” registered in Ohio this year — that count includes any case with a connection to Ohio.
“That might be a suspect or victim or information that locates the activity to Ohio,” Frattare explained. “More often than not, that means that a crime was committed here either by the suspect or involving the victim who may be here.”
Frattare said the Ohio ICAC unit investigates each tip, but some prove to be unfounded or unsubstantiated. Nevertheless, he believes the sheer volume of tips indicates that the problem is growing.
“When I started with the task force in 2009, we had received 640 cyber tips for the entire year,” Frattare said. “Last year, we received 10,320. With a month left, I suspect us to be over 12,000 cyber tips by the end of the year.”
“It’s only getting worse as not only more offenders are online, but more kids who are using today’s technology without oversights or without an understanding of just how dangerous it is out there.”
Most tips that come in involve possession or sharing of material, rather than creating it; but law enforcement officials say that every time an illicit photo or video of a minor is seen or shared, that child is re-victimized.
The most recent data available (Oct. 2020 to Oct. 2021) shows that over the last 12 months, the Ohio ICAC unit conducted 1,284 investigations and executed 698 search warrants. These investigations are often conducted in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies.
In the span of a year, the unit made made 339 arrests and identified 94 child victims based on images or videos found online.
How can K9s help?
Purveyors of CSAM often store elicit content on small electronic devices like thumb drives and micro SD cards small enough to hide inside a false quarter. The size of these storage devices makes them easy to hide and difficult to discover. Even after a thorough search, investigators often worry about leaving critical evidence behind during a warrant.
“Usually people are trying to hide it from their family, so they put them on the tiniest device they can,” explained Todd Jordan, owner and trainer at Jordan Detection K-9.
That’s where K9s become a valuable resource for law enforcement.
Seaman first heard about electronic storage detection (ESD) dogs through Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), an organization that supports law enforcement agencies fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
“I was investigating a crime against children that was going to need a search warrant for electronic devices,” he said. “While we were working on that investigation, they posted something on social media asking if any law enforcement has need of an electronics dog.”
Seaman sent a message, hoping that OUR would bring a dog to assist with the search warrant. Instead, they asked him if he wanted to become a K9 handler.
He initially declined. Seaman entered law enforcement in part because he was passionate about fighting human trafficking; he never thought he’d do it with a four-legged partner.
“At that time, there was one other dog in Ohio,” he recalled. “I had reached out to that organization to assist with our search warrant and they were months behind. They weren’t able to assist.”
A few months later, OUR reached back out.
“At that point, I felt convicted. I thought I could do this,” he said.
After getting approval from Greenwich’s police chief and mayor, Seaman found himself in a training course with Wren at Jordan Detection K-9. Jordan trains the dogs on his own for several months before they begin working with their handlers.
Preparing an ESD dog for field work consists of several hundred hours of scent discrimination, open-area search and realistic scenario-based training.
“She’s still way smarter than me,” Seaman joked. “I just hold the dumb end of the leash. She’s got a PhD. I’ve got a GED.”
Wren knows when she’s on the job based on verbal commands like, “Let’s go to work.” After she hears those words, she begins sniffing. When she smells something nearby, she sits and looks at Seaman.
If Seaman says, “Show me,” Wren will indicate where she smells the scent coming from by pawing at it or putting her nose up against the object. With every find, she’s rewarded with a handful of dog food.
“She absolutely loves to go into work,” Seaman said. “Once she hears ‘show me’ she knows a treat is coming.”
Wren joined the force in September. She has worked multiple cases so far (none were directly related to CSAM) and even assisted an outside agency.
Seaman said he hopes he and Wren can provide mutual aid to law enforcement agencies across the region whenever possible.
“There’s access to these kinds of tools in Cleveland, for example, but we don’t have as much access out here,” Seaman said.
The tiny village of Greenwich has one of the few law enforcement agencies in the state with an ESD dog, but other states have an established track record of using ESD dogs in CSAM investigations.
Niko, a yellow lab golden retriever mix, began working for New Hampshire’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force in May 2020. His handler Matt Fleming spent 15 years as a detective investigating crimes against children before retiring to work for ICAC in 2018.
“We had said initially when we got Niko if we could rescue one kid, it would be worth what we paid for him,” Fleming said. “We’ve done that time and time again. It’s been the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”
Fleming and Niko average of two to four search warrants each week all across New Hampshire. The K9 once helped officers uncover evidence that brought down one of the largest child exploitation rings in the state’s history.
“Niko has proved time and time again to find things we didn’t see,” Fleming said. “Most agencies don’t want to execute their warrants unless he’s available. They certainly will if they have to, but whenever possible they want him there.”
In addition to their keen sense of smell, ESD dogs — which are typically affable breeds like retrievers and labs — can also be trained as therapy dogs.
Fleming said Niko’s training benefits not only victims, but investigators. Having a dog around can provide a small buffer against the emotional toll that comes with the job.
Investigators have to watch the recovered material and narrate it to provide as evidence to the courts.
“It’s really changed my life. Prior to having Niko, I worked all those cases for so many years and it does wear you down,” Fleming said. “The work we do, although its humbling and very important and has very rewarding moments, it’s overwhelming.”
“If you have a bad day, you have Niko right at your side.”
After Niko is done searching for evidence, he’s been known to provide comfort to the perpetrator’s family members as well.
“If you come knocking at the door at 6 a.m. and the family has no idea what you’re doing behind your back, it can be emotional,” Jordan said. “Letting the kids pet the dog, letting the wife pet the dog, sometimes it can de-escalate the situation.”
Seaman plans to have Wren trained as a child victim therapy dog. These dogs stay with children while they are making statements in police stations or in court to provide a calm and comforting presence.
Even spending just a few minutes with Wren, it’s obvious she’s up to the task.
“She is the most affectionate, loving dog that I’ve ever had,” Seaman said. “My 7- and 8-year-old sons oftentimes argue about who gets to sleep with her.”
The dogs’ approachability also makes them a valuable tool for building public awareness of internet crimes against children.
Fleming said law enforcement often doesn’t have the resources to cover both investigations and public awareness campaigns, so promoting awareness often takes a back seat.
“If we had unlimited resources, we would add more investigators to cover the work that’s coming in and additionally, we’d want more people on the ground educating people about the dangers that exist on the internet,” he said.
“All the (investigative) resources that are starting to show up in the world are fantastic, but the one that we’re still lacking in is public education.”
After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, Fleming began taking Niko out among the public to start those crucial conversations. He even has an Instagram presence.
“He’s a fantastic PR person for why you have to talk about internet safety,” Fleming said.
Seaman hopes Wren’s presence can help build relationships with the community and start conversations about an important but uncomfortable topic.
“It’s not something we’d like to talk about, but she helps bring those conversations out,” he said. “This is a serious issue. This is why you need to watch what your kids are doing online.”
A note on our wording: While the term ‘child pornography’ is commonly used to describe images or videos of child sexual exploitation and abuse, we have chosen to use more explicit terms in our story. Experts in the criminal justice fields prefer these terms, as the word ‘pornography’ does not inherently imply a lack of consent.
