Post Falls to receive new K-9 through Secret Service program

Post Falls Police Department announced Thursday that it will have a new electronic detection K-9 beginning next year to ramp up its ability to fight crime.

"We’re the first one in the Pacific Northwest to get a dog like this," Capt. Jason Mealer said, calling the K-9 a "dog partner" for area law enforcement. 

Unlike traditional police dogs, this K-9 will be trained to locate hidden electronic devices, such as memory cards, hard drives and other small items, that can be used to store illegal materials.

“The amount of child crimes that we have happen here are very high and kids are some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” Mealer said. “We want to make sure that we use all of our resources to protect children and do everything we can to make an arrest.”

Detective Jason Cope, who serves as the police department’s computer forensics investigator, will be the handler for the dog and will travel to Alabama in January for training. 

The program is fully funded by the U.S. government and is administered by the U.S. Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute. 

“We are grateful to the U.S. Secret Service and NCFI for selecting Post Falls to receive this incredible resource. Detective Cope’s expertise in digital forensics, combined with this new K-9, will significantly enhance our ability to serve and protect our community,” Mealer said.

According to the program's website, the dogs receive about five months of training and many of the devices these highly trained dogs uncover in practice scenarios are similar to those that detectives find containing child sexual abuse material.

The dogs can also detect cellphones, hard drives, thumb drives and other electronic devices that could contain critical evidence in homicide investigations, cryptocurrency fraud and missing persons cases.