According to Toni Clark, Founder and CEO of Defenders for Children, one in 10 children are sexually abused before the age of 18.

That may not sound like many but for Clark and Bryan County Sheriff Mark Crowe that’s one too many and they are teaming up to stamp out one of the most horrendous crimes law enforcement officers and social agencies have to deal with.

Thanks to Clark’s organization, which is now 10 years old, Crowe and his department are getting one more weapon to add to their arsenal in their fight against those who commit crimes against children such as child pornography and sex trafficking.

Crowe and Clark held a press conference Monday afternoon at the Sheriff ’s Department south end complex in Richmond Hill to announce the Defenders for Children organization, which is based in Greenville, S.C., will be providing the BCSO with a specialized K9 dog in the near future.

When you hear K9 the thought process quickly turns to drug sniffing dogs but the English Labrador Retriever which Bryan County will be receiving is much more in that it is an Electronic Detection K9.

The dogs are trained to detect electronic storage devices including micro SD cards, thumb drives, hidden cameras, cell phones and more.

Among those at the press conference was Charleston (S.C.) County sheriff ’s deputy Jason Bowen who is the handler for Cipher who was also present.

“Every electronic device has a chip,” Clark said. “The ones in a phone, for example, are the size of a dime but they can store hundreds of thousands of pictures.

“When a search warrant is issued and officers complete their search the dog is sent in and on average it locates two devices that were missed. These can provide the information needed to get a conviction.

“The sad thing is that 75 percent of abuse cases are never reported.”

The dog Bryan County will be receiving will be the first of its kind in Georgia. It will be the sixth trained dog Defenders for Children will have provided law enforcement since the program was initiated three years ago. The dog and the training required costs approximately $23,000 which comes from donations, Clark said. Should an individual or organization decide to make a donation to cover the cost it would have naming rights to the dog.

Clemson football coach Dabo Sweeney’s “Dabo’s All In Team Foundation” provided funding for the very first dog which was named Spiller in honor of Clemson All America and NFL standing C.J. Spiller.

The dog Bryan County will be receiving is yet to be named so it’s a golden opportunity for University of Georgia, Georgia Tech or Georgia Southern supporters to follow Sweeney’s lead and get the opportunity to name a “local” dog. Smart (Kirby), Erk (Russell) and Bobby (Cremins) are names which quickly come to mind.

Anyone wishing to get more information on how to donate can email Clark at defendersforchildren@gmail.com or go to the website at defendersforchildren.org. All donations are tax deductible.

“Sex crimes against children is a big problem and it’s getting bigger… we’re seeing an uptick,” Crowe said. “This is a natural fit for us as we house GBI’s ICAC task force (Internet Crimes Against Children) in our complex here (south end). “They monitor and track those engaging in downloading child pornography and trafficking. They make us and other law enforcement agencies aware of what is going on in our communities. When we get sufficient evidence, we secure a search warrant and go in.” Bryan County currently has three K9 dogs, Crowe said, but he said the new addition “is going to find what we miss when we execute a search.”

According to the sheriff ’s website Bryan County currently has 58 registered sex offenders: there are 21 in Pembroke, 21 in Ellabell, 15 in Richmond Hill and one in Black Creek.

Bryan County Deputy Jennifer Fleming will be the handler assigned to the dog which the BCSO will be getting.

“I’ve never been a handler,” Fleming said. “I’m really excited about it and I’m looking forward to it.

“The fact the dog and I are both new to one another means I won’t have to be trying to work with old habits,” Fleming said. “As far as I know the dog will be ready to go the day we get it. “I can’t wait to get started because I’ve got warrants waiting to be served.”