Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart stands next to Cyber Crime Analyst Carol Gudbrandsen and her electronic detection canine, Browser. | Provided Photo

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office electronic detection canine and his handler, a cyber crime analyst, have retired after many years of service assisting in criminal investigations.

Cyber Crime Analyst Carol Gudbrandsen and her electronic detection canine, Browser, retired on Monday.

Gudbrandsen started working at the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office in 2010.

She worked in the Cyber Crime Division, specializing in digital evidence forensics of computers, mobile devices and computer networks.

Her abilities made her an “integral part of all types of criminal investigations,” including homicides, crimes against children, sexual assault, theft, burglary and white-collar crimes, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

“Carol has been a pioneer in this office. Because of her work, our office has secured justice for thousands of survivors in Lake County and beyond,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.

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“We will miss her professionalism, her expertise, and her compassion for all. We wish her and Browser well in their retirement,” Rinehart said.

Browser, who is an English Labrador, was trained to sniff out a bonding chemical baked onto all electronic circuitries.

He assisted Gudbrandsen and other law enforcement agencies throughout Lake County, along with federal agencies, in search warrants.

“Browser always knew when we were going on a search warrant,” Gudbrandsen said.

“He would get really excited, especially when he saw the food pouch that was waiting for him,” she said.

Gudbrandsen performed thousands of forensic examinations on various types of digital evidence and was the forensic analyst for all Lake County police departments.

She also worked on cases for Homeland Security, FBI, DEA and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

“When I first started, I used to work mainly on child exploitation cases, but now, digital forensics is used in almost every case. The challenge is knowing exactly what to extract from the devices,” Gudbrandsen said.

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Gudbrandsen said at her retirement party that she will miss working with law enforcement and everyone in the state’s attorney’s office.

She said Browser is a very social dog and that he will miss all the people he got to see every day.

Gudbrandsen will be replaced by JB Brooks as Cyber Lab Director. Brooks currently works in the cyber lab as a forensic analyst.

“As a former law enforcement officer and penetration tester, Brooks brings a wealth of knowledge from the public and private sectors to our cyber lab. While we will miss Carol, we are also confident that JB can build on her work and lead our cyber lab as we upgrade multiple systems through recent federal grants,” Rinehart said.