Canine Sniffs: The Search that isn’t
Q: Do you keep records as to the effectiveness of your dog?
A: Yes, sir, I do.
Q: Do you know how often your dog gives false positives?
A: He doesn’t give any false positives. We’re just unable to verify the alerts at that time.
I practice criminal defense in a jurisdiction where the local drug interdiction unit uses drug-sniffing dogs extensively. Generally, one officer performs a blatant pretext stop, such as pulling someone over for having an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. Sometimes the police operate as a team and preposition the dog in anticipation of the stop. Sometimes the officer with the dog operates in a particular area and responds to nearby stops. In either case, the officers run the dog past both the stopped vehicle and its occupants.
