Federal police show off latest weapon against child abuse

Highly-trained dogs will assist with child exploitation investigations as online crime rises in Australia.

AFP canine's show off their skills to parliamentary staff in Canberra. Picture: Supplied.

Police sniffer dogs trained to detect child abuse material and digital terrorism are being used to crack down on a significant rise of online crime in Australia.

Nearly two dozen technology detection dogs have been deployed by federal authorities to sniff out criminals hidden mobile phones, USB drives, memory cards, and easily concealed SIM cards

This comes as reports of online child sexual exploitation to the AFP more than doubled over the past two years, with cases rising by more than 180 per cent between 2018 to 2023.

'Down, boy!': Kirk the technology detection dog shows more bite than bark. Picture: Supplied.

At least one tech sniffer dog has been deployed in every major capital city in Australia.Picture: Supplied

In 2019, the AFP “scoured the world” to find experts to train Australia’s first ever fleet of tech detection dogs to help combat the issue after the government poured in $5.7m to recruit canines into its crackdown on child sexual abuse.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Lesa Gale said she was “deeply concerned” about an increase in illegal online activities.

“The creation of child abuse material is a horrendous crime,” she said.

The victims in these images are children and they are being used as a commodity for the sexual gratification of others, including those who try to make money from the abuse.”

Tech dogs have led to “significant breakthroughs” in child abuse crimes, the AFP said. Picture: Supplied.

In 2021, an AFP detection dogs helped police located $70k cash stashed inside in a Brisbane business accused of running a money laundering syndicate.

A team of AFP specialist technology detection dogs assisted in the arrest of an Adelaide man in March after sniffing out a device which contained hundreds of images of child abuse material.

Dozens of new Labrador pups have been now recruited into the AFP training program, according to federal police, with eight new dogs graduating as fully fledged canines in 2023.