Photogenic police dog makes it from Mississauga and Brampton to North American calendar

One of the newest crime-fighting dogs in Mississauga and Brampton may have just stumbled onto a nickname that could stick around for a while.

And for a good cause.

Known to her Peel Regional Police colleagues, both human and canine, as Harley, the two-year-old yellow Labrador might soon also answer to “Miss November” on a somewhat regular basis.

Harley, who joined Peel cops earlier this year as the first dog in Canada trained to sniff out electronic/digital storage devices related to the sexual exploitation of children, is one of 13 police dogs to grace the pages of a 2024 North American fundraising calendar.

A relaxed and uniformed Harley, complete with her cop badge posing in front of downtown Mississauga’s curvy skyline, appears above the 30 days of November 2024 in Operation Underground Railroad’s latest calendar.

OUR, a U.S.-based anti-sex trafficking organization, publishes a calendar each year to raise money in support of electronic storage detection dogs working with law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and Canada.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the nickname for Harley has already stuck. In announcing the news via social media this afternoon, Peel cops titled the post “Say hello to Miss November 2024!”

Harley, with downtown Mississauga buildings behind her, appears above the month of November 2024 in the calendar. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)

The post continues: “Our very own ESD K9 Harley is featured in the Operation Underground Railroad’s 2024 fundraising calendar. Proceeds help to fund ESD K9s like Harley in the effort to combat online sexual exploitation of children and to support victims of abuse.”

Police dogs are more traditionally known to do things such as track down fugitives and missing people, carry out building searches, sniff out drugs, search for evidence and detect explosives.

Harley, though, and other ESD dogs like her, is trained to find digital storage devices through scent. She works with the Peel police Internet Child Exploitation Unit supporting officers during the execution of search warrants.

Harley is the only such police dog in Canada and there are also very few in the U.S., police say. According to an ABC news story, there were only about 100 canines certified to do this type of work in the U.S. in 2022.

The dogs are trained to smell a chemical compound found in electronic storage devices such as thumb drives and microSD cards. Because they are so small, these devices can be difficult to find. But they can store photos and videos, which could be evidence in child sexual exploitation cases.

In addition to her regular work, Harley is also an emotional support dog for both victims and police.

— with files from Karen Longwell

Say hello to Harley – a full-time member of the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit!

Harley is the first dog in Canada trained to seek out digital storage devices that may be related to the exploitation of children.

Learn more: https://t.co/ttmLN1xE39 pic.twitter.com/CCGfhy2MEA

— Peel Regional Police (@PeelPolice) March 30, 2023