SEATTLE — A friendly dog named Bear is the owner of one of the world's most famous noses.
"I get to kind of ride his coattails," said Detective Ian Polhemus of the Seattle Police Department. "He does all the work, and I'm a glorified chauffeur."
Polhemus is being modest. He works and trains with his canine colleague all day, every day. As members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, it's their job to help put bad guys behind bars.
"Close the door and throw away the key? Man, life doesn't get any better for me," Polhemus said.
The rescued black lab was one of the first three dogs in the world trained to sniff out electronic devices.
"It's not really voodoo," Polhemus says. "There actually is some science behind this."
It turns out, nearly all techwear has something in common, a special glue used in the manufacturing process.
Polhemus explains, "When you're talking about SD cards or micro SD cards with just this tiny little drop of glue, he has to be able to smell that."
Every find is rewarded with food directly from his trainer's hand.
"He does not eat out of a dog bowl," Polhemus says.
Of course, there are electronic gadgets everywhere. To sort through the digital landscape of a typical home or office, Polhemus directs Bear to search specific targets.
"He's only going to search those areas where I ask him to search."
When Bear inspected the home of Subway spokesman Jared Fogle, the thumb drive he found helped put the child predator behind bars.
"There were some items that were missed, and those were ultimately retrieved by Bear," said Polhemus.
This celebrity canine cop loves his job, but he's not going to do it for free.
"He's only going to work if he knows he's getting paid," Polhemus said. "The payday is food."
