Interview with Michael Rainey, the handler of “Queue,” AKC Humane Fund ACE Award Winner – Uniformed Service Canine.
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Michael Rainey: Queue is an “English” Labrador Retriever, born in November of 2016. She started out as a Service K-9 with Paws with a Cause as a Seeing Eye Dog, but her spirit for searching and hunting was very strong and she was moved over to Electronic Detection work by Jordan Detection K-9 in Indiana. Queue was donated to the Sheriff’s Office by Defenders for Children, a local nonprofit wanting to help victims of Human Trafficking as well as Child Sexual Material. Defenders for Children funded the purchase of Queue and the two-week training for the handler.
Michael Rainey: Queue had a four-month training process with Jordan Detection K-9, and at the end of the four months I drove to Indiana for a two-week training session and certification. Queue’s role at the Sheriff’s Office is as a secondary search tool on search warrants to ensure that no devices have been missed or overlooked by Investigators. Once the Investigators conclude a search of the residence, looking for electronic devices, Queue and Sgt. Rainey enter the residence and conduct their search, room by room, looking for hidden or missed devices.
Michael Rainey: Queue was the first Electronic Detection K-9 to be placed in service in the state of South Carolina. Since her placement with the Greenville Sheriff’s Office in November of 2018, she has assisted in numerous search warrants with the Sheriff’s Office as well as with the FBI, Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Service, Probation and Patrol, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, Greenville City Police, and Simpsonville City Police. Since her arrival, Queue has also been a valuable therapy aid with the SID Investigators and victims.
Michael Rainey: Investigators with the ICAC Unit, with other investigators from the SID Division, served a search warrant on a residence. Once on the scene, Investigators found that the nearly 4,000 square foot residence was over-crowded with items and you could only move down pathways. Once the Investigators were finished collecting all their evidence, Queue entered and began a secondary search of the residence, beginning on the main floor. Queue alerted on an area of the hallway. I then searched the area and found an HP Laptop that was not found earlier. We then moved to the basement area where Queue alerted on a clock in the downstairs bathroom that was a hidden camera with a slot for a micro SD card. Investigators advised that they had removed an SD from the camera prior to the K-9 search. We then moved to the third floor of the residence where Queue alerted on a suitcase in the hall/second den area. After searching the suitcase, a laptop computer with a thumb drive and an external hard drive was found. Once an examination had been conducted on the thumb drive that was located by Queue in the residence, it was found that a live victim, approximately four years of age, was filmed by the subject. Also, on the thumb drive were approximately 100 child sexual abuse materials. This is in addition to the two live victims that have already been identified by investigators on the primary devices used by the subject.
Michael Rainey: Queue likes to visit other members of the Sheriff’s Office to get belly rubs and pets. She also loves playing with her stuffed animals while at work, and at home she plays with the other K-9s I have. The fact that we give a voice to the children who are not able to speak up for themselves makes coming to work very rewarding.
American Kennel Club (AKC)
Maple the English Springer Spaniel earns the AKC Humane Fund ACE Award for Search & Rescue Human Detection with handler Sue Stejskal.
