"I love Lucy!”; Four-legged friend making impact in Arkansas special investigations

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A four-legged friend is proving herself as a key special investigator for the state. Her specialty: sniffing out electronic devices.

The former LRPD K-9 Lucy was promoted a few months ago by Attorney General Tim Griffin to work in the Special Investigations Division with her handler, Special Agent Amber Kalmer.

Griffin said so far, Lucy has been an asset, especially with her specialty that is nearly unheard of. Approximately 100 dogs across the globe have received the training that Lucy has to track down electronic devices and detect chemical compounds found in data storage devices.

Kalmer staged an exercise Thursday to show Lucy’s training. During the exercise, Lucy located several devices in downtown Little Rock, as Kalmer walked us through the dog’s cues and line-of-thinking.

“I am tough on her, so if she huffs and alerts, I want to know specifically where that is at, and I want her to hit hard,” Kalmer told our crews during the exercise. “You have got to find those small clues telling you, ‘Hey, this is where it is at?’”

Lucy’s actual work, however, has much more pressure than the exercise Thursday.

Griffin said one big reason he recruited Lucy was to help the state in crimes against children cases, with Lucy being able to track down devices containing child pornography.

Griffin added that Lucy has already been part of executing search warrants that are now active cases. But, she is not limited to just that.

A potential project coming up for Lucy could be a missing-person case. Griffin said police have found some skeletal remains, but a key to the investigation is that the person is said to have a pacemaker.

Now, officials are discussing bringing in Lucy to locate what could be the missing puzzle piece.

“It is really about providing a resource to other parts of the state that do not have the money or capability to do what Lucy does,” Griffin said.

Griffin said bringing Lucy in to work for the state allows her to be a resource for every law enforcement agency across Arkansas. “Everybody loves Lucy,” Griffin said. “I love Lucy!”

from KARK https://ift.tt/pO1DC6s