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Handler describes how electronic-sniffing dogs are used during parole checks
Summary
AP&P handler Josh Paxman described standard procedures for deploying the dogs during home visits — safety walkthrough, leaving the case agent with the supervisee while the handler searches, and passive indication — and said public interactions are reserved for when the dog is off-duty.
AP&P agent and handler Josh Paxman walked through the department's procedures for deploying an electronics-detection canine during field visits. Paxman said teams typically plan five to six house calls in a day, perform a safety walk-through for hazards and other animals, leave the case agent with the supervisee, then bring the dog in to conduct room-by-room searches and use reset rituals to focus the dog.
"Typically, we do a quick walk through... making sure there's no other dogs, hazardous materials, any kind of food... After that's cleared and deemed safe, I'll come back in and get the dog," Paxman said. He described Glitch as a passive-indication dog that will sit or lie down when it locates the odor and then "pinpoint it" with her nose. Paxman also said the dogs are trained as service animals and handlers ask permission before allowing people to pet them when they are off duty.
Paxman and officials emphasized that finding a device prompts an examination for illegal material; possession is a violation only if a supervisee is under a condition that forbids such devices. Officials suggested the dogs could also support outside law enforcement Internet-children crime task forces and work inside halfway houses and correctional centers in the future.
