Dogs help New Mexico Department of Justice sniff out crimes against children

Yahoo

25-05-2025

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Department of Justice Special Agent Mariah Gonzales has no ordinary partner — she's got four legs, a tail and a collar.
But she brings a new definition to sniffing out crime.
Special Agent Nyx, a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, fills a unique role in the department's Internet Crimes Against Children Unit: sniffing out the phones, hard drives and other devices suspects use to store child sexual abuse material.
'She's a vital tool for us in the event that investigators might overlook or miss devices that could potentially have child sexual abuse material on them,' Gonzales said in an interview.
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Nyx, a 2-year-old Labrador and electronic scent detection K-9, is led through statues of people in conversation by her handler, Special Agent Mariah Gonzalez, in downtown Albuquerque during a walk around the block Monday.
Nyx, officially designated an 'electronic detection K-9,' represents a strategy law enforcement agencies have been using for years across the country. She's trained to sniff out a compound called triphenylphosphine oxide, which coats just about every device used to store data, including cellphones, hard drives, SD cards, etc.
Most of the time, Nyx is deployed on search warrants. Gonzales will give her cues, and the pair will follow Nyx's nose throughout the house, vehicle — or whatever the search warrant is for — until she finds something, at which point she's trained to sit and point.
Nyx is one of two special agent canines working for the state Department of Justice, said spokesperson Chelsea Pitvorec. Nyx's counterpart, Gadget, is 'primarily housed in our Human Trafficking Unit as an emotional support animal and is secondarily a trained electronic detection scent dog who can assist with ICAC search warrants and other operations as needed,' Pitvorec wrote in an email.
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Nyx, a 2-year-old Labrador and and electronic scent detection K-9, wags her tail while heading back to the office after a brief walk with her handler, Special Agent Mariah Gonzalez, in downtown Albuquerque on Monday.
Both dogs are successors to another dog named Joey, who served the agency for six years before retiring last year.
Nyx is like any other agent with the New Mexico Department of Justice — just with a couple extra legs, fur and an exceptional sniffer.
She trains every day with Gonzales, who hides electronic devices as practice runs for Nyx and earns treats each time she succeeds. She goes out on every search warrant the Internet Crimes Against Children unit serves, though Gonzales and Pitvorec couldn't say exactly how many times the Labrador has been deployed in the field in the roughly year she's been working.
Nyx's services are sometimes loaned out to law enforcement agencies throughout the state to aid in their investigations, Gonzales said.
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A small stuffed animal of Nyx's predecessor Joey, a now-retired electronic scent detection K-9, perched on a window at the state Department of Justice's offices in Albuquerque on Monday.
Nyx also sometimes pulls double duty as a comfort dog when on assignment, providing support to unsettled or otherwise traumatized children who may be around during the unit's investigations.
'With the cases that we work, a lot of the times, there might be kids on scene,' Gonzales said. 'And so she's able to be there, not only to assist us in the investigation, but also to be there for the victims.'
But Nyx is also like any other dog. Every night, she goes home with Gonzales, shedding her police vest and going on runs or playing fetch with her human partner. She's never found a squeaky toy she couldn't beat, destroying two per week, Gonzales estimates.
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Badges on display — one reading Special Agent Attorney General NM and the other reading Agent NYX — at Civic Plaza in Albuquerque on Monday.
Nyx — who's attached at the hip of Gonzales — has eyes for few others, constantly gazing up at her and taking her cues from every movement she makes.
'I'm, like, her favorite person,' Gonzales said. 'But, also, I have her reward bag.'