Dogs trained by Nottinghamshire Police to sniff out sex offenders
A pair of dogs will target sex offenders after being trained by Nottinghamshire Police to sniff out semen.
The two labradors - named Ebony and Hazy - were trained for six weeks to smell tiny samples of semen years after they were deposited at crime scenes.
After the dogs find the samples, police can then create a DNA profile and use it as evidence against sex offenders.
PC Dean Allen, lead trainer at Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Dogs really are remarkable animals and can trained in the same way to detect almost anything we want them to.
“Ebony and Hazy have been a real pleasure to work with over the last six weeks and I know they will play a very significant role in getting justice for victims.
“They are now capable of detecting even the smallest trace amounts and will find evidence that may previously have been missed with other detection methods.
“Ultimately these dogs will be used in future to bring some of the very worst offenders to justice, and it’s a great feeling for us to play a part in that with our training.”
Where an offender's semen might be on grass, soil, leaves or carpet, normal crime scene investigation teams can struggle to find that key evidence needed to bring people to justice.
The force says it has already used evidence found by dogs to convict sex offenders.
A man was jailed for 24 years in 2021 for offences committed against a teenage girl several years earlier.
A semen deposit recovered in a bedroom was a key piece of evidence which helped prove the account given by one of his victims.
Detective Chief Inspector Jo Elbourn said: “Evidence gathered by these animals can really make all the difference in a rape or sexual assault investigation – particularly when suspects deny that sexual activity has taken place.
“By using DNA evidence detected by dogs, we can prove they are lying about the fundamentals of an investigation and build our case from there.”
The newly-accredited pair are part of just a handful of specialist dogs in the UK and will travel to different police forces across the country.
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