Keeping kids safe from predators online is no easy task, and it demands that law enforcement get creative not only in investigative strategies, but through preventive messaging, too. That’s the tact Gayle Warren has adopted.
As a digital forensic examiner in the Crimes Against Children Unit of the Tucson Police Department in Arizona, Warren tracks digital footprints, but she also partners with Zona, an electronics detection K-9.
“She looks for anything that can store transmit data, such as hard drives, cellphones, micro-SD cards, hidden cameras, tracking devices, USB flash drives, you name it. If it can store data, she can find it,” Warren explained to local television station KGUN9.
Seeing how young people react to Zona also prompted Warren to write Zona’s Lab Report: The Birthday Suit Dispute, a children’s picture book that addresses the dangers online, such as predators asking for inappropriate photos. In the story, Zona locates the predator’s phone in a shoe, which, according to the news report, resembles the work she does for the department on a regular basis.
Warren hopes the book helps parents initiate conversations and illustrate safe online behavior for their kids.
In April, Warren and Zona accepted the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) Heroes Without Capes Safety Award.







