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Sit. Fetch. Roll over. Find porn.
That's the idea behind the newest team member of the Weber County Sheriff's Office: a K-9 trained to sniff out electronic storage devices, such as flash drives, DVDs and memory cards, that police believe contain child pornography or illicit information.
The 17-month-old black Lab named URL (pronounced "Earl") came to the department at the end of May, and officers jokingly call him their "porn dog." He is trained to smell the chemical compounds unique to photo and video storage.
"He'll definitely find it. He's got an incredible nose," said URL's handler, Detective Cameron Hartman, at a news conference Tuesday.
The dog is one of nine electronic-detection K-9s in the country and the only one in Utah. Weber County got URL — carrying a $10,000 price tag paid for by the Weber Metro Narcotics Strike Force — after Hartman submitted a proposal in October.
Utah won the bid because of the state's high rate of porn consumption, he said, though he did not present data to confirm that anecdote. Utah did, however, become the first state to declare pornography a public health crisis, when Gov. Gary Herbert announced that it's the "full-fledged truth" in April.
URL will work primarily with Hartman, who has focused on internet crimes in Weber County for more than three years, particularly homing in on child pornography and exploitation, but also exploring terrorism intelligence, financial offenses and contraband devices among inmates. The duo has worked on two cases, finding devices in one residence.
URL went through nine months of instruction at the hands of the same man who trained Bear, the K-9 who sniffed out a concealed thumb drive containing porn at former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle's home in July 2015. Hartman traveled to Indiana to pick up the dog and spent two weeks learning how to lead URL.
Though they'll be concerned chiefly with northern Utah, Hartman and URL will collaborate with the local FBI and Homeland Security offices, as well as the Utah attorney general's office.
"We're really just excited to help whichever agency out there that needs something so unique as this," Hartman said.
After officers secure a search warrant and investigate the structure they're searching, the electronic-detection dog will walk through while Hartman commands him to "seek." When URL smells a device, he lies down in front of it and paws at the space after being told to "show me." If he's right, he gets a treat.
Because the chemical URL can smell is distinct for storage devices, he isn't confused by remote controls or garage door openers. His nose is strong enough smell through other materials, such as fabric or carpet.
Weber County has two other K-9s specializing in drugs and arrests.
Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner