The Associated Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden- Police in Sweden say they have trained a dog to sniff out sperm left behind after a rape, which would help secure DNA evidence against perpetrators.
The dog, a 4-year-old female Belgian Milois named Xena, has been practicing during the past few months, and is now ready to use her unique skills at real crime scenes, said Lena Thor, a spokeswoman for the canine unit in Goteborg in southwestern Sweden.
“It is the first in the country, and probably in the entire world” to learn to sniff out sperm, Thor said. “Some dogs are better at smelling certain scents, but Xena seems to extra good at tracking down sperm.”
Sperm can often be hard to find at outdoor rape scenes, but Thor said Xena may help locate clues that would otherwise vanish.
“It’s important that we arrive at a scene fast with the dog because sperm disappears fast from a crime scene,” Thor said.
Thor said her canine unit has nearly 80 dogs, trained to track down everything from narcotics and explosives to blood.
Xena has been successful in several training situations, but the dog must be approved by the country’s national police agency before it can be taken to actual crime scenes.