The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office has added yet another four-legged team member, as the county’s electronic forensics team is now aided by a dog that can sniff out hidden electronic storage devices.
Ascii, pronounced ask-ee, is a 2-year-old Labrador retriever named after the abbreviation for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a character encoding standard for electronic communication.
Ascii is able to detect the chemical used specifically in electronic storage devices.
“She can tell the difference between a computer monitor and a cellphone,” said Matt Beers, a DA investigator and digital forensic examiner. “She can detect things as small as a micro SD card all the way up to hard drives and computers.”
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty noted this is especially useful for cases involving child pornography or invasion of privacy, when investigators are trying to find hidden evidence or cameras.
“That capability is particularly useful when they’re executing search warrants,” Dougherty said. “The electronics that we’re looking for in these cases are small and often easily hidden.”
Beers said dogs being used to find electronic devices really gained traction in the world of electronic forensics when a trained dog named Bear found a thumb drive later used to convict ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle.
“It became big news for us to hear something like that,” Beers said. “A big passion of mine is doing proactive work in crimes against children cases.”
Beers said he wasn’t able to get a dog at his previous agency, but when he came to Boulder County he pitched the concept to Dougherty, who green-lit the idea.
Finally, with grant money from Operation Underground Railroad, which fights child trafficking, and the U.S. Secret Service, Beers was able to fly to Indiana to choose a dog.
Ascii was originally being trained to be a service animal, but then had a bit of a career change and was trained to detect electronics.
“She got dropped off at the hotel, and we spent the night just kind of hanging out,” Beers said of meeting his new buddy for the first time. “We had two weeks together training and working hard, and kind of bonding.”
Beers said it wasn’t always smooth sailing, and Ascii had a brief rough period after a promising start.
“They are trying to show us things and we haven’t learned to read them yet,” Beers said. “I called (trainer) Todd Jordan and he just laughed and said, ‘Trust me, this is part of the process.'”
On Jordan’s advice, Beers made sure to take Ascii on special walks and offer other positive reinforcement outside of training. Beers said the duo turned a corner, and then went to help out with a warrant search in Indiana.
“She was on her game, she went to work and found about five devices,” Beers said. “After that she and I just clicked. It just took some time, me doing something special for her, taking her for long walks and hanging out. But we’ve been fairly inseparable ever since.”
Ascii lives with Beers, and he handles all of her care. But when Ascii accompanies Beers to work at the Boulder County electronic forensics lab, Ascii is available with all of the people at the facility, which includes forensic examiners and detectives from local agencies. So while she is technically owned by the DA’s Office, Ascii is available to help out on all Boulder County cases involving possible hidden electronic evidence.
“I don’t think you can put a value on it,” Beers said of Ascii’s ability. “There are times when we know there is evidence we are leaving behind; we just don’t know where it is.”
But in addition to her value finding evidence, Ascii serves as a source of support for the law enforcement personnel working on these sorts of crimes, which often include child exploitation. While she is not specifically trained as a comfort dog like the DA’s other two dogs, Amigo and Buck, Ascii’s mere presence as an adorable dog is enough to help.
“Especially for the difficult work that they do at the forensics lab — they see horrific things,” Dougherty said. “So having a dog there is a great source of support for them.”
Beers said Ascii has a bed at the office, but is not shy about picking up a toy and wandering over to any of the forensic workers or detectives for playtime.
“I could be looking at a computer with child exploitative material, and because I’m in the zone of just working, four or five hours could go by, and I don’t realize i haven’t left my desk or looked at anything else,” Beers said. “She’s that mental break when we’re working on this; she seems to know when we’ve been staring at our screen for too long and she says, ‘OK, it’s time to play.'”
Beers said Ascii has quickly become a welcome addition to the office.
“It’s been really amazing walking into the lab, and everybody is happy to see her,” Beers said. “She just makes you feel good, makes you feel happy.”
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