Police use dogs to conduct searches in many places. Highly trained dogs are used to search homes, and at travel hubs such as border crossings, airports, train stations and bus terminals.
Dogs are used to find drugs, bombs, explosives, lost people, cadavers, and the fire accelerants used by arsonists.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been held by the Supreme Court to prohibit police searches of areas where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, unless the police obtain a warrant from a judge before they search. For example, the Supreme Court has held that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes, and so police cannot conduct searches of occupied houses without a warrant.
However, the Supreme Court has held that people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public and semi-public spaces such as airports, automobiles, and suitcases. That is why police dogs are able to sniff for substances in these areas without needing a warrant. If a police dog turns up illicit substances such as drugs or bomb-making supplies, those items are legally admissible in court and can be used as evidence against the defendant.
Police dogs are, of course, specially trained, but they must also be a special type of dog. Certain breeds are popular choices for police dogs:
These breeds have been trained for generations to have extraordinary working ability, strong desire to please and cooperate with their handlers, and in some cases, the desire to hold criminals if they are directed by their handlers to do so. Generally speaking, other dogs don’t have these innate abilities, and that is why just a few specific breeds are trained for police work.
To understand how canine searches work, it’s essential to understand a little about a dog’s remarkable sense of smell. There are distinct differences between dogs and humans. For example, dogs possess about 300 million olfactory receptors in their nose, or about fifty times as many as humans.
Another important distinction is that the portion of a dog’s brain that detects different odors is proportionally much larger than a human’s. Dogs have the unique ability to recognize one particular smell or scent and separate it from all others.
Police dogs are taught to detect various drugs, explosives, and accelerants (when investigating arson). Police dogs are able to perform their tasks anywhere and are commonly used to search airports and border entries for explosives and illegal drugs, large events for explosives, and civilian vehicles that have been pulled over.
Detecting or sniffing out drugs in a vehicle from the outside works like this:
Officers suspect a vehicle has illegal drugs inside. Even if their suspicion is right, that is not enough by itself to allow them to search the car. Because they are suspicious, the officers walk the dog around the car, and the dog sniffs for the scent of drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. If the dog alerts, that gives the officers probable cause now to conduct a thorough search of the car.
Interestingly, with the legalization of marijuana in many states, newly trained police dogs will no longer be trained to detect marijuana. The current problem is that dogs previously trained to detect marijuana will still react as if they found an illicit substance, even if marijuana is now legal in that dog’s state. A dog trained to detect marijuana in a state where it’s legal may have to be retired.
Like the use of certified drug-sniffing dogs, there are certified explosive detection and accelerant detection dogs. These can either be a cross-trained police dog or a specially trained, single-purpose dog. Police officers respond to reported bomb threats in courthouses and schools, among other places. A bomb detection dog is an excellent tool for clearing a large building. Unlike drug detecting dogs, a bomb detection dog may be selected from a wider variety of breeds.
Police dogs are also used to detect signs that a fire was caused by arson. Both police department and fire department arson investigators use dogs specially trained to detect accelerants. This is an important task, but not the dog’s only task. Once a fire is extinguished, a good accelerant detection dog can also be used during and after the fire to work the surrounding crowd.
Frequently, arsonists like to stand among onlookers, watching the building burn. The dog and handler can quietly walk through the crowd to identify a person with even a minuscule amount of accelerant on them. These dogs are typically friendly, and are selected from non-threatening breeds such as Labrador Retrievers. The dog may walk up and sit next to the arsonist, wagging its tail as police take the person into custody.
Perhaps the most exciting talent of the police dog is suspect apprehension. Police dogs are trained to bite dangerous suspects and hold them hostage until the handler orders the dog to be released. They are the first ones to risk their lives and go in against an armed suspect to protect their human partners.
Most apprehension dogs are herding breeds, such as the Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds, and Dutch Shepherds. Herding breeds have been bred to have the physical strength and intelligence needed to work with their owners to herd livestock — qualities they can also use to restrain dangerous people. They must be trained to have the ability to recognize when someone is a threat and to act solely on the command of their handlers.
There are some restrictions on police dog searches. Police are not legally permitted to prolong a search in order to use a drug sniffing dog or in order to try to influence the outcome of the search. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal for police to lengthen a traffic stop, or detain or delay travelers, for the purposes of prolonging a police dog search or to wait for a canine unit to arrive.
The officer can only keep a vehicle stopped long enough to address the traffic violation that gave rise to the stop, such as completing standard credential checks, warrant checks and the issuance of tickets or warnings.
If you have been charged with drug possession, explosives possession, or any other charge that has arisen from a canine search, you need to retain a criminal attorney right away. Drug and weapons charges carry serious penalties and potential prison terms, so it is important to find someone that can build your best case and represent you in court.
Many rules and procedures governing police dog searches are found, not in statutes you could look up yourself, but rather in Supreme Court decisions known as “case law.” Only a lawyer will be knowledgeable about these rulings.
Furthermore, in addition to the nationwide federal case law, each state has its own case law. A police dog search that is legal in one state may not be legal in another. Many states have rulings that are more restrictive than the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions. If you have had a negative outcome from a police dog encounter, seek out a local attorney who will know your state’s laws.
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