Dog sniffs out memory cards?

Mynight said:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/police-dog...d-drives-containing-child-pornography-1455648


Dogs are being trained to sniff out memory cards that are hidden in a suspects house.


I'm calling bull for now. I can't think how memory cards would have a unique smell.

Any truth in it do you think?
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Maybe a certain combination of the volatile oils leaching out of the plastic and the circuitry? Although I can't see how that would smell any different from the majority of other electronics!
 
Haggisman said:
Maybe a certain combination of the volatile oils leaching out of the plastic and the circuitry? Although I can't see how that would smell any different from the majority of other electronics!
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Indeed my first thought was plastics but so many items would smell the same :confused:

It's not that I'm worried before anyone asks :D I'm just intrigued.
 
surely all electrical items have the same electronic smell?

like when you open them new they all smell the same?

your telling me a dog can tell the difference between the smell of a motherboard and the smell of a gpu? or one of those add in card style ssci drives
 
arknor said:
surely all electrical items have the same electronic smell?

like when you open they new they all smell the same?
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Yeah, that's the "magic blue smoke" residue...

The different plastic compounds would (probably) have different smells, but there must be loads of products that use the same plastics as memory cards...
 
Haggisman said:
Yeah, that's the "magic blue smoke" residue...

The different plastic compounds would (probably) have different smells, but there must be loads of products that use the same plastics as memory cards...
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just remove the plastic case and your left with a tiny circuit board and memory chip(s) ?
 
I imagine they're just trained to sniff out electronics in general and the memory card bit is just some journalistic flair.
 
Haggisman said:
Yeah, that's the "magic blue smoke" residue...

The different plastic compounds would (probably) have different smells, but there must be loads of products that use the same plastics as memory cards...
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I can't imagine all memory cards use the same plastics either.
 
Can I borrow the dog, I've misplaced mine. While a device was being exchanged,

Also reading the article it's not just SD cards, seems to be any hidden electronics.
Rhode Island and Connecticut have become the first US states to use specially-trained sniffer dogs to uncover hidden hard drives and other electronic storage devices that might contain child pornography.
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I guess there will be able to differentiate well enough to be able to sniff out that kind of electronics if they are there or not and then it will be up to someone to sort through what is and isn't relevant from what they dig up.

EDIT: Or basically what tom said.
 
tom_e said:
I imagine they're just trained to sniff out electronics in general and the memory card bit is just some journalistic flair.
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I don't see the point anyway how incompetent are these officers if they search a house and cant find a hdd or memory card hidden somewhere but a dog can?


they going to let the dog in if it finds one don't bother searching every square inch of the property for more evidence ?

seems like a nonsense story to put the fearo f god into paedophiles so they destroy there stashes
 
Mynight said:
Dogs are being trained to sniff out memory cards that are hidden in a suspects house.
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Load. Of. Bull.

To me, it sounds like a plod-excuse.

"Yeah, your place got trashed by the dog looking for memory cards, not by us chucking stuff everywhere because we have no respect for private property. Honest guv."
 
arknor said:
I don't see the point anyway how incompetent are these officers if they search a house and cant find a hdd or memory card hidden somewhere but a dog can?


they going to let the dog in if it finds one don't bother searching every square inch of the property for more evidence ?

seems like a nonsense story to put the fearo f god into paedophiles so they destroy there stashes
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There are plenty of places in a house you could stash something as small as a microSD card, which could potentially take thousands of man hours to find...
 
arknor said:
I don't see the point anyway how incompetent are these officers if they search a house and cant find a hdd or memory card hidden somewhere but a dog can?


they going to let the dog in if it finds one don't bother searching every square inch of the property for more evidence ?

seems like a nonsense story to put the fearo f god into paedophiles so they destroy there stashes
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Compare the size of a micro SD card to a house and you have your answer, what a daft thing to say.
Drugs dogs are used for the same reason they can do in an hour or 2 what would take a team of people at least a day.
 
theres only so many places you can hide something inside an empty building, any stash is surely going to be accessible ? it must be if the dogs can smell it anyway.

it's not like a dog is going to be able to smell through the plaster and paint if someone went to that trouble
 
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