Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

 

Spartanburg – The Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office (SCSO) has welcomed a new teammate to their crime fighting squad. Sata, a black lab, was introduced at a press conference on Monday. 

 

Sheriff Chuck Wright, Tony Clark from Defenders For Children, Kerry Halligan of Matrix K-9 and Deputy Brandon Letterman spoke to press and audience about Satas purpose.

 

Sata is an Electronic Detection K-9 and is trained to sniff out and discover hidden devices used towards child pornography and abuse cases. Sata is trained to smell and see far more than a human can and quickly find the issues. 

 

Matrix K-9 of Wallington, CT is where Sata and Deputy Letterman were trained. Matrix is one of the top training and handling programs in the United States. Halligan said in the press conference that it is such an honor to train these dogs to help fight against such terrible crime. 

 

Before Sata, Matrix K-9 had trained two other Electronic Detection K-9s to work in South Carolina. One K-9 is located in Richland County and the other is in Greenville County. The Dogs along with their handler cost roughly $23,000. 

 

Defenders For Children, an organization based in Greenville whose purpose is to protect the lives of children during times of abuse, has become a donation fund for these dogs. All of the money for Sata was donated through various foundations. Sheriff Wright commented that Spartanburg County would have done its best to find the money and believes a child’s life is worth millions compared to $23,000. 

 

Everyone is thrilled to add Sata to the team. Not only is she trained to sniff out the bad but is also there to calm the victims and is considered to be a therapy dog. So far she has been on three cases. According to Deputy Letterman, Sata has been a huge help. 

 

By Carson Parnell