K9 drug alerts: kind of bogus
Seems like this should be big news:
The complaint alleges that the drug-sniffing dogs used by troopers in the program were intentionally being trained to operate as so-called trick ponies, or dogs that provide officers false alerts for the presence of drugs.
The dogs were being trained to alert their handlers by cues, instead of by picking up a drug’s scent by sniffing, the complaint said. When a dog gives a false alert, this resulted in illegal searches and seizures, including money and property, the complaint said.
July 2nd, 2012 at 9:14 am
Um, Unc. The link goes to something about NRA bashing.
July 2nd, 2012 at 9:50 am
Think this is the link he was intending.. or at least similar: http://privateofficernews.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/nevada-highway-patrol-troopers-sue-over-bogus-k-9-program-www-privateofficer-com/
July 2nd, 2012 at 10:00 am
Very old news.
ANY handler can give his dog a double hand pump and an emphatic, “Sook!” and get a “hit.” Plus, some of the dogs want the yellow ball so bad that they will constantly lie. A good handler can tell the difference in the head whip and instant ass to grass of a good hit versus the slow sit or scratching with an over the shoulder look of a lying dog.
July 2nd, 2012 at 10:01 am
this seems to be the article:
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/18886948/nhp-troopers-sue-department-over-k-9-program
July 2nd, 2012 at 10:05 am
What I forgot to say is that this is pretty standard across the country. Cop wants to search your car and has time to wait? He calls K9, lets them produce a hit, and then tosses your car for having the temerity to make him get a legal excuse to search.
July 2nd, 2012 at 10:14 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans
July 2nd, 2012 at 10:42 am
This was proven in a study over a year ago.
http://blog.norml.org/2011/02/04/drug-dogs-false-alert-over-200-times-in-uc-davis-study/
July 2nd, 2012 at 11:11 am
Unfortunately, the courts are willing to take the handler’s word for it no matter how well the dog is shown to perform – even if flipping a coin would be just as accurate.
An accuracy rate of 50% is still enough for probable cause, because he did okay in training. Why bother with the dog? A quarter can do just as well, and costs a whole lot less!
July 3rd, 2012 at 12:55 am
I used to think that dogs were good for this, but I now realize I was a fool. If you make the police mad enough to send for a drug-sniffing K-9 unit they might be inclined to plant evidence if they don’t get a real hit. At a minimum, they may discover unrelated illegal items on this fishing expedition which is problematic in relation to the 4th Amendment.
I always want to think the best of the police, but this resource is quite ripe for abuse.
Sending a dog in to chew on a perp who won’t come out of a barricaded position seems like a better use for them. Of course, we do have tear gas for that too, so maybe we can just forgo the canine contribution.
July 3rd, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Couldnt they be held liable if they tear a vehicle apart and find nothing on a so called bogus dog hit.
July 4th, 2012 at 8:55 am
Police have been using dogs this way for decades now. Pro tip:
Police lie. Always.
July 5th, 2012 at 12:20 am
No human should be deprived of even an atom of his property, nor even one millisecond of liberty, nor suffer the tiniest discomfort, as a consequence of an event which happens in the mind of a dog.
Further, as much as I hate Bill Sherman and all of his troops, they did get one thing right; they killed every dog they found which was bred and trained to go after humans. In that case it was bloodhounds. I would not bother bloodhounds, but would do away with Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, and German Police Dogs (miscalled German Shepherds for PR reasons).
Note that the latter three breeds were all bred by Germans. Like Alvin York, I don’t care for Germans even when they are not being Nazis. Hell, I don’t like Weimaraners, and they are just a German’s idea of a (ugly) bird dog. Remember, men, wogs begin at Calais!
I would also set up a shelter for homeless Bull Terriers.
July 5th, 2012 at 12:50 am
P.s. I think I could get along with an English Mastiff. Dogs are properly bred for behavior, not appearance. There are demonstrated statistical tendencies of differing kinds of behavior among differing human populations, which I betcha will breed dogs with personalities and behavior compatible with their own.
July 5th, 2012 at 1:30 am
P.p.s. I think we ought to breed ourselves for behavior, too. Look how well that worked out for the Jews, with their IQ bell curve skewed to the right.
This is why I believe arranged marriages are generally a good thing, and why I think those silly children Romeo and Juliet rightly deserved their deaths. It was a damn shame they got all of those good men killed with their silly mutual infatuation.