Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) Taiwan's first electronic storage detection dog (K9 ESD), named "Wafer," who was donated to the police by an American organization, has touched down in the country and will soon report for duty after completing his training in the United States.
Electronic storage detection dogs (K9 ESD) are very sensitive to a chemical substance, triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), that is found in electronic storage devices, and are deployed by U.S. police to sniff out those that could be storing illegal content.
Wafer underwent training in Indianapolis from July 31 to Aug. 11 with other police dogs from the U.S. and Malaysia, as well as Yang Lee-ching (楊力靜), a Taiwan National Police Agency liaison officer in the U.S., and two dog handlers from the National Police Agency Third Special Police Corps.
Yang said that after training, K9 ESDs are able to detect devices anywhere, from those hidden in a car to those placed under a rock in a river, but because the smell of TPPO is hard to detect, the dogs are only trained to sniff out the devices, not other illegal contraband.
Yang first came up with the idea of K9 ESDs being sent to Taiwan in 2022 when she was taking part in an initiative run by the Homeland Security Investigations and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) that focused on combating human trafficking.
Through LASD, she got in touch with Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), a non-profit organization working to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation that has given more than 100 K9 ESDs to law enforcement authorities around the U.S.
After a visit to Taiwan, during which O.U.R. confirmed the treatment of Taiwanese police dogs was up to U.S. welfare standards, the organization decided to give a K9 ESD to Taiwan's police.
Yang said that she decided to name the dog Wafer because all of the U.S. K9 ESDs were named after electronic devices, and in a nod to the country's semiconductor industry.
Wafer is currently in quarantine and is set to begin work on Sept. 11.
