Kissimmee Police K9 Officer Georgie Torres is passionate about helping some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
So, when he heard about the opportunity to get a specially trained dog that can track down the devices that hide child porn, he jumped at the opportunity. He alerted his superiors of the opportunity and once it was approved, he purchased “Baxter.”
“(Baxter is) trained to detect the presence of a chemical that is actually used in the manufacturing process of electronic storage devices,” Torres said.
Torres said the chemical is present in “cell phones, thumb drives, SD cards, external hard drives.”
He added there are only seven or eight of these types of dogs in the state and about 100 across the country, but he hopes eventually every agency will get one.
During a conversation on Florida’s Fourth Estate Baxter successfully searched three rooms and found hidden electronics. In one case he knocked a thumb drive out of a planter.
“He is so geared up to work, his nose is already working without me really giving the command,” Torres said. “So, from the doorway he can already tell that there is a device here, he can already tell the area where it was, so he ran right here and shoved his nose at the plant and then like a savage he knocked it over.”
What Baxter accomplished in seconds, Torres said, “even in the best scenario this could take two detectives easily two hours.”
“(A dog like Baxter is) very valuable because what we do is so important, a lot of the children we deal with, the child victims are going through horrors that we can’t even comprehend,” the officer said.
Learn more about Baxter and Kissimmee Police K9 Officer Georgie Torres on Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can watch Florida’s Fourth Estate every Monday & Friday on News 6 at 5:30 p.m. or anytime on News 6+.
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