The Weber County Sheriff’s Office in Utah had a sad announcement to make recently. URL, who was a police dog that spent his life tracking down pedophile criminals in possession of child pornography, has passed away.
URL was an Electronic Storage Detection Canine who could track down the hard drives of criminals with child porn. URL worked on over 2,000 search warrants to sniff out electronic devices that stored porn. The Weber County Sheriff’s Office detailed some of URL’s most impressive finds in their Facebook post honoring his life.
The Sheriff’s office said in their post:
“It is with a heavy heart that the Weber County Sheriff’s Office announces the untimely passing of retired Police Service Dog “URL” on December 30, 2022. URL was just shy of 8 years old and had retired in January of 2022 from police service. URL was enjoying retirement with his original handler Detective Cameron Hartman of the Weber County Attorney’s Office (formerly with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office), after a brief placement with another handler from July 2021 to January of 2022.”
As it turns out URL was not a dog bred to be a police dog and had a rough start to his life. However, he found his way to working with the police department and providing his services for the good of society.
“URL was not bred to be a police dog, and instead had a very rough start as a “pound puppy”, and bounced through two different animal shelters and one foster home within the first few months of his life. Initially URL was deemed to be untrainable due to his behavior, but the Central Indiana Labrador Rescue & Adoption (CILRA) recognized URL’s unique talents and drive and intervened and committed themselves to finding URL a proper home. Through their efforts, URL made his way into training to become a very unique police service dog.”
URL’s reputation earned him the nickname “The Porn Sniffing Dog” which got him considerable media attention, even leading to international coverage from some of the biggest news outlets.
URL’s handler, Detective Cameron Hartman, had this to say about his canine partner:
“Dear “URL”,What a privilege it was to serve alongside you. “URL” my heart is broken and still filled with so many memories and emotions. I am so lucky to have been able to get to know you and serve the citizens of Utah and its surrounding states with you. You brought so much joy to the children who were home during search warrants, the countless kids of all ages as I got to show you off at dozens of public schools, colleges, public demonstrations, and church groups. So many incredible experiences and opportunities that you brought me as I was just the guy at the boring end of the leash holding on for dear life. Thank you, “URL”, for trusting me, for working so hard, for loving me unconditionally, and for being part of my family. You were always there for me as I benefited from your talent in helping to catch some of the wolves that live among us. I don’t take any of the time you gave me for granted. It’s been an unbelievable honor to have been the largest part of your unstable life. I will miss you terribly until I get to see you again.
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