The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office has a new, multi-tasking K9 patrol officer, an immigrant born in the Netherlands on the Fourth of July.
Sheriff Robert Maciol introduced Billie, an English black Labrador retriever, at a press conference on Friday morning, June 17 at the sheriff’s office in Oriskany.
Billie, 1, has been assigned to handler Deputy Thomas Bronson in the sheriff’s road patrol division as an electronics storage detection canine, Maciol said.
That means she has the ability to find cell phones, tablets, laptops, USB drives, SD cards and other electronic storage devices.
She’s trained to detect Triphenylhosphine Oxide (TPPO), a chemical used in all electronic devices.
The versatile Billie is also training to track lost or missing people, Maciol said.
Billie may be new to Oneida County, but she can already take credit for one collar. She’s participated in the execution of several search warrants, including one that also involved the Oswego and Otsego county sheriff’s offices.
During that search, Billie sniffed out three cell phones with images that provided the evidence to put a sexual predator, on parole from a previous offense, back in jail, Maciol said.
Billie was born in the Netherlands on the Fourth of July last year.
But she was purchased from Vohneliche Kennels in Denver, Indiana with funding from WB Payne Co., Inc. in Boonville and Tolpa’s Auto Parts in Remsen.
She’s named after three of her patrons: Bill Tolpa, owner of Tolpa’s Auto Parts, and two different men named William Payne from the W Payne family.
The sheriff’s office presented both businesses with plaques to recognize their contributions to bringing Billie to Oneida County.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Meet Billie, Oneida County sheriff’s recruit with nose for hidden data
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
