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Meet Layla: FDLE's newest weapon in the battle against child pornography, cybercrime

Layla has been specially trained to sniff out the adhesives and other chemicals found in electronics.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement introduced its newest weapon in the battle against child pornography and other cybercrime.

What's the newest weapon? A K-9 named Layla, and she quite literally has a nose for crime.

“The canine’s abilities help investigators quickly identify and find evidence routinely hidden by suspects,” FDLE’s Mark Brutnell said.

Layla has been specially trained to sniff out the adhesives and other chemicals found in electronics like hard drives and thumb drives criminals might try to conceal out of sight or in small spaces.

“They get more and more crafty with the way that they do things. It’s just like drugs or any other offense. You know, AC vents, hollowed-out books,” FDLE Agent Ritchie Kaplan, who handles Layla, explained. “If you want to hide behavior, people will go to extreme lengths to do it.”

In a demonstration, Kaplan showed off Layla’s skills. She was able to locate a hidden phone, thumb drive and memory card hidden inside a planter or under a table.

Just like a dog can be trained to focus on narcotics or medical conditions, Layla is specially trained to smell the chemicals used in manufacturing electronics and storage devices. Items that could hold images of child pornography or other data used in cybercrimes.

“Every crime these days has some sort of cyber component to it,” Brutnell said. “Whether it be a cell phone or a thumb drive.”

Layla was donated to the FDLE by an organization called Operation Underground Railroad, which works with people affected by human trafficking.

She started working at the agency on March 14 and is already proving to be a valuable asset.

“One of her first assignments she found an SD card hidden in a bookshelf,” said Kaplan. “Something that the room is already been searched. Had we not had her with us and didn’t have this asset, it’s something that would’ve been left behind.”

Before joining the FDLE, Layla was a comfort dog for people affected by human trafficking in the Indiana area. With this fresh addition to the team, the FDLE now has four dogs statewide with Layla’s specialized skills.

They hope to add more and expect other agencies will be looking at doing the same based on their success.

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