Detection dog
Experts say that dog-sniff evidence should not be used in the criminal justice system, pointing to wrongful convictions, human biases that skew animal behavior, and the lack of systematic research into what dogs detect or how they do it.
Detection dogs also tend to be employed for the purposes of finding and collecting the feces of a diverse array of species, including caribou,[4] black-footed ferret, killer whale,[5] and Oregon spotted frog.
[13] She followed it up with 98% in the final trials in open fields, demonstrating that dogs can effectively detect low densities of invasive plants.
Detection dogs use their unique ability to smell in parts per trillion in order to track bed bugs in every phase of their life cycle.
The NPMA's Best Management Practices emphasizes the importance of having bed bug detection dog teams certified by third party organizations who are not affiliated to the trainer or company that sold the canine.
Scientists at the University of Kentucky reviewed studies on bed bug detection dogs and concluded that although expensive for operators, they are a reliable source as long as they undergo the proper training.
[21] Research shows that detection dogs can find laboratory rats and mice in a large rodent-free area of 32 hectares (79 acres).
[25] Researchers in Paris in March 2022 reported in a preprint not yet peer-reviewed that trained dogs were very effective for rapidly detecting the presence of SARS-Cov2 in people, whether displaying symptoms or not.
[32]: 25 [33]: 12 Separate data shows that during the same six-year period, officers conducted 5659 strip searches resulting from drug detection dog indications.
[33]: 72 In October 2018, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission launched a formal investigation into the use of strip searches by NSW Police.
[33]: ii In a final report handed down in December 2020, the commission found that there had been a "significant increase" in the "number and proportion" of strip searches carried out following drug detection dog indications in the five years between 2014 and 2019.
Head plaintiff for the class action is a then 27-year-old woman who was wrongly strip searched at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in 2018 after being stopped by a drug detection dog.
Although the Supreme Court of Illinois did not get into the sniffing averages of drug dogs, their supposed infallibility is belied by judicial opinions describing well-trained animals sniffing and alerting with less than perfect accuracy, whether owing to errors by their handlers, the limitations of the dogs themselves, or even the pervasive contamination of currency by cocaine.
[36]In 2011, civil rights activists claimed that detection dogs responses are influenced by the biases and behaviors of their handlers, which can hinder accuracy.
Several amicus briefs argued that drug dogs show poor accuracy in the field, with up to 80% of alerts being false positives.
[44] In June 2012, three Nevada Highway Patrol officers filed suit against Nevada's Director of Public Safety, alleging that he violated the police dog program by intentionally training canines to be "trick ponies" – to falsely alert based on cues from their handlers (Clever Hans effect) – so as to enable officers to conduct illegal searches of vehicles.
