Investigating Odor Signatures of Electronic Storage Devices

Abstract

Dogs have a long history of being used as scent trackers. They\u27ve tracked game for hunters, sniffed out hidden drugs, and even found hidden criminals and missing victims. More recently, police K-9 dogs have demonstrated the ability to locate individual electronic storage devices (ESDs) - such as laptops, cell phones, and USB drives - by scent. This ability, which gained mass media attention when a dog found a hidden USB drive during the raid on Jared Fogle\u27s residence, is possible due to a dog\u27s significantly heightened sense of smell when compared to that of a human. Knowledge regarding the detection of ESDs is still rudimentary and being researched. Current K-9 training programs train the dogs on either the target material, or, if the target material is unavailable, chemical surrogates that mimic the scent profile of their targets. The former approach is used for K-9 training programs that include detection of ESDs. If surrogate chemicals can be used to produce odor profiles consistent with the ESD odor profiles, these manufactured odor profiles can then be incorporated into future K-9 training programs, avoiding the need to purchase expensive ESDs solely for scent training. In order to develop the optimal method for ESD odor profile analysis, a method must first be developed to identify the odor profile ofESDs. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC­ MS) is a valuable method for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) anticipated to be present in the odor profiles of ESDs. However, determination of an optimal sampling method to perform this type of analysis is needed. In cooperation with the Connecticut State Police and NOBLE, two different sampling methods were evaluated for identifying a specific target odor using GC-MS: Direct headspace and solid phase microextraction (SPME). After determining the best sample method, this optimized method was then used to evaluate the odor profile of an ESD sample using GC-MS, to determine whether the target odor in question was present in the odor profile