K-9 Copper is barely out of basic training, but the floppy-eared newcomer to the Fort Worth Police Department is already headed into some of the region’s toughest cases. The service-certified dog officially earned his badge Wednesday and will now work child-exploitation investigations across North Texas, hunting for tiny electronic storage devices that can hide crucial digital evidence.
Copper joined the department in December and now serves as an Electronic Storage Detection dog with the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Fort Worth police said. Chief Eddie Garcia personally pinned Copper’s new badge during a small ceremony, according to CBS News Texas. The department also noted that Copper is trained to locate electronic devices and is certified as a service animal.
How ESD K-9s Work
Electronic Storage Detection (ESD) dogs are trained to pick up a chemical scent tied to electronics so they can locate items such as micro SD cards, thumb drives and internal hard drives that are easy for humans to miss during searches. According to Our Rescue, that skill set has become a serious force multiplier in child-exploitation investigations and was a focus of a recent large-scale ESD graduation that included Copper.
Why This Matters For North Texas Investigations
The ICAC program links regional task forces that share digital-forensics and investigative resources across jurisdictional lines, which makes specialized tools like ESD K-9s especially valuable when cases span multiple counties. The Department of Justice’s research arm has documented how the ICAC network supports hundreds of federal, state and local agencies and has driven thousands of investigations and arrests since the program began. The Office of Justice Programs / NIJ outlines how the task-force model helps prosecute technology-facilitated child exploitation.
Fort Worth police wrote on X that Copper “assists with child exploitation cases” and can help officers find devices that store child sexual abuse material, according to CBS News Texas. The post also called out his service certification and his new role with the North Texas ICAC Task Force…