Ohio Dog First to Certify in USPCA Human Trafficking Detection

Besa is trained to detect concealed humans wherever they are hidden.Sarah Gentry PhotographyHuman trafficking remains an alarming global and domestic issue, one that frequently challenges law enforcement and search-and-rescue missions.

According to the comprehensive 2023 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report, around 24.9 million people were victims of human trafficking worldwide in 2016 (the most recent numbers available). Of this number, the data shows 20.1 million people were victims of labor trafficking and 4.8 million were victims of sex trafficking.

It is crucial for law enforcement and search-and-rescue professionals to acknowledge and be ready to handle this pervasive problem, according to Lt. Sarah Gentry, a K9 handler with the Ohio Special Response Team, a multi-capability search-and-rescue unit responding to lost persons, emergencies, and disasters.

As a member of this team, Gentry is always looking for new certifications to advance 9-year-old German Shepherd, Besa’s capabilities in the field. So, when the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) announced a certification in human trafficking; she knew she needed to take Besa through it, despite having to cover certification costs herself. She explains all members of the Ohio Special Response Team are volunteers and pay expenses for their own dogs, which can run thousands of dollars a year.

“It’s worth it,” she says of the money and time she invested in Besa becoming the first K9 in the nation to get the new USPCA certification. “All I had to do is think about the one time this training could make a difference, and the new certification made sense. You cannot put a price on it.”

Gentry, a nurse, opted for a private office setting over a hospital to have the freedom to participate in search-and-rescue missions whenever they happen. The importance of this work became clear in her debut mission, she adds.

Law enforcement responded to the call of a missing five-year-old girl, leading to a massive search effort in a local community. The overwhelming response prompted the kidnapper to panic and abandon the child in a residential backyard, she says.

“In elections we say everyone needs to vote because every vote counts. Well, in search and rescue, everyone who showed up that day counted,” Gentry says. “The child was injured and naked when found, and her story might have ended differently without the tremendous response to look for her.”

The team had another case where a missing child was found inside a car in the neighbor’s garage. No one knows how or why the child got there, she says, but it was another scenario where Besa’s additional training could be beneficial.

Recently, law enforcement has mobilized the team to locate individuals who may have been moved, potentially for trafficking. “I immediately thought that I should step up Besa’s training so that we are available if there is ever a circumstance where there's a need for that,” she says.

With this training, Besa “now knows how to detail vehicles and buildings looking for humans intentionally hidden where before she was only trained to look in surrounding woods, collapsed structures, and places like that,” she says.

What’s Required for Human Trafficking Certification

The Ohio Special Response Team covers Ohio and surrounding states and comprises seven units that are called out by law enforcement or governing agencies as needed. There are no charges for the unit’s services.

Though not employed by a law enforcement agency, Gentry and other members of the Ohio Special Response Team utilize USPCA certifications for their dogs. Although there are other certifications available, the team places great importance on USPCA certifications because of their rigorous standards, she explains.

Sarah Gentry PhotographyBesa, whom Gentry describes as exceptionally smart and a fast learner, already had certifications in human remains/cadaver searches, disaster training and search and rescue before adding the USPCA Concealed Human/Human Trafficking certification, which certifies K9s in human odor searches when the person is hidden, and their scents are harder to spot.

For this certification, Besa had to locate people hidden in open fields, buildings and concealed in cars, according to Gentry.

“We had to work in an open field where they had victims hidden inside a box and she had to find them. The scenario was timed, and they judge your work based on the timing, handler and K9 performance, and the finds,” she says.

The second scenario required the team to search six rooms in a building to locate two victims. “The victims were hidden behind closed doors or furniture,” she says. “When she finds victims, she is trained to sit and bark until we get there.”

Then there was the vehicle search, which Gentry describes as the hardest scenario because the vehicles were sealed up. “USPCA conceals the people in a vehicle and closes the vehicle all the way up,” she says. “There are many vehicles in the area, but only a few vehicles have a victim concealed inside. But Besa found all of them.”

According to Gentry, the searches differ from typical search-and-rescue missions where dogs use a specific person's scent to find them. Here, they are not looking for a specific scent, but rather a concealed person.

“The scent of a human is a strong odor, and dogs can be trained to detect human orders over anything else,” she says. “Dogs can even be trained to only detect deceased human odors.”

Dogs trained in concealed humans/human trafficking can detect hidden human beings in many scenarios, be it in an attic, underneath the floorboards or in the trunk of a car. “Even if they are concealed, the dog would know and be able to identify that there is a fresh human odor there,” she says. “Dogs also are very good at detecting the odor of adrenaline that someone who is afraid is putting off. A person who is stressed or fleeing will put off a different odor than someone who is not.”

Sarah Gentry trains Besa with the entire team monthly and individually every day.Sarah Gentry PhotographyKeeping Skills Sharp

Keeping skills sharp is part of the K9 trainer’s job, according to Gentry.

She explains members of the Ohio Special Response Team are not called out frequently, but when they are, they need to be ready.

“The more certifications we have, the better it demonstrates competency, and the less challenges I will have if we end up challenged in a criminal court case,” she says. “Plus, I just like to keep stepping up her game.”

She emphasizes that without consistent training, certification skills will diminish. The team trains together on Sundays, and she trains individually daily. “I bought a separate property to design around training my search dogs, and others,” she says. “It’s a lifestyle. We tell people who are interested in search and rescue that you have to be ready when they call. Law enforcement doesn’t call us when it’s convenient.”

Regular human trafficking training is tricky because she struggles to find people who will act as victims. “The victims need to be willing to hide in a vehicle and wait for her to find them, and we don’t crack a window or anything like that because it would allow odor to escape,” she says.

Challenges aside, the training in human trafficking was the right thing to do. "If we can do anything to help find these victims, it's worth the effort," she says.