Lawsuits Challenge Identifying Ability of Police Dogs

More welcome skepticism of junk science in the court room.

Two federal lawsuits are casting a harsh spotlight on an investigative tool long beloved by American law enforcement: a bloodhound's nose.

Lawsuits filed in Victoria, Texas, allege that Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett and his team of hounds — James Bond, Quincy and Clue — failed controversial sniff tests known as "scent lineups."

Much like in traditional lineups, the dogs link human scents left at crime scenes to samples from suspects.

In each case, the suits allege, Pikett's dogs called attention to the wrong person. Both former suspects have been cleared.

This part is fun:

Ken Sparks, county attorney in Colorado County, Texas, an enthusiastic supporter of Pikett's work, says he understands some of the skepticism.

"Everybody who encounters it the first time says, 'Yeah, right,' " Sparks says. "That's what I said before I first saw it work."

Pikett says the lawsuits are just attempts to win large awards. "It's all about money," he says.

One of the men wrongly identified by the police dog was jailed for three months before being exonerated by DNA testing. The greedy bastard apparently thinks he should compensated for that.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about another police dog in Orlando whose "testimony" has come under fire.

Comments

[Warren]

Interesting. Wake me when courts reject K-9 identification as probable cause for a search.

[Spoonman]

Excellent. Texas needs to clean up its criminal justice act. After you clean up Mississippi, Radley, you should move to Houston and start kicking ass.

[Rich]

But they can still diagnose *cancer*, right?

[Nick]

Ruh Roh, Reorge!

[Sal Paradise]

"Everybody who encounters it the first time says, 'Yeah, right,' " Sparks says. "That's what I said before I first saw it work."

Sounds just like Billy Mays.

[SugarFree]

Wrongful arrest and imprisonment judgments should come out of the police pension fund.

[Adderall Apocalypse]

This is grrrreeaaat!!!

"Everybody who encounters it the first time says, 'Yeah, right,' " Sparks says. "That's what I said before I first saw it work."

Yeah, that's what I always thought about faith-healing until I saw a Benny Hinn performance program on the tv machine... *rolleyes*

[Abdul]

You all laugh, but if anyone in Tennesee is trying to get someone to sell their abandoned amusement park cheaply by faking a series of haunted occurences, it would be smart to rely on canine investigatory techniques.

[Isaac Bartram]

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about another police dog in Orlando whose "testimony" has come under fire.

In the interests of accuracy I will again point out that while this story was in the Orlando Sentinel, the events reported actually happend in Brevard County on the coast east of Orlando.

Orlando has to live down enough crap, like Disney and its mayor. It's not fair to associate it with things that happend in the next county.

[anon]

Police dogs' primary function is to serve as mobile, all-purpose "probable cause" machines, regardless of their actual abilities.

Judge: How did you know the defendant was carrying drugs?

Cop: the dog told me.

[NavyVet]

I have a fantastic German Shorthair Pointer. In good conditions, no pheasant or quail is safe. She is a NAVHDA NA I, UT I dog (google it, if you are interested) and will eventually complete at a national level. However, my dog still false points on occasion. That these duffuses think a dog's identification is fool-proof is unbelievable.

Warren,

when courts reject K-9 identification as probable cause for a search.

While I am not a supporter of the WOD and believe that many of the police are just a street gang that tends, just a little bit, to be on our side more than it isn't, under limited conditions I am willing to accept that K-9 identification as probable cause for a search. I am not sure I can define what the limitations should be, but a properly trained dog can be selective enough* to justify probable cause for search. Positive identification is a completely different standard.

*Example: In the area of KS I regularly hunt, there are often more owls, hawks and assorted large tweeters on the ground than there are pheasant, quail and prairie chickens. My GSP has never pointed on an owl, hawk and assorted large tweeter, because I have trained her to hunt only specific birds.

[NavyVet]

Judge: How did you know the defendant was carrying drugs?

Cop: the dog told me.

And this is the crux of the problem. I trust the dog more than the cop. I am sure a dog can be trained to identify dope with near perfect accuracy, I am not sure that I can trust the cop to not use the dog as an excuse to search even when the dog did not identify dope.

[Spartacus]

In the interests of accuracy I will again point out that while this story was in the Orlando Sentinel, the events reported actually happend in Brevard County on the coast east of Orlando.

As a native of Brevard County, I hereby apologize to the world for this dumbass. We're not all as stupid as that. I mean, the Kennedy Space Center is here, we're not all morons. Really.

[Gabe]

This reminds me of the story about dogs trained to find drugs. The dog schools sell some of their dogs to the DEA etc, but the very best dogs fetch top dollar fromt eh drug traffickers. This way the drug traffickers can test their trafficking mechanism ahead of time and have full confidence that the package will get by the inferior dogs sent to the DEA and borde security guys who are on the payroll anyway. The DEA and border security dogs function as good ways to cut down on the start up competitors ho destroy profits.

[ChrisO]

If UPS trucks were a criminal enterprise, my dog would be the best canine cop in the world. He detects them a mile away.

He'd also be very useful if fried chicken was contraband.

[Tom Lundy]

Paraphrasing here.
The Orlando Sentinel asks the Brevard County DA if they are going to go back over previous convictions that used the super smelling dog, "No", but the convicted are free to do so."
Why is the DA not charging the dog handler?

[hmm]

After playing fetch with a retired police dog I came to the conclusion they are as fucking retarded as their brethren. Two of my cats play fetch better.

At least you can trust the dog not to overtly lie. Any mistake on the dogs part is human interpretation or just a mistake by an animal that licks its own balls and ass. The guy handling the dog will lie through his teeth and maliciously mislead people, and wish he could lick his own balls and ass.

If UPS trucks were a criminal enterprise, my dog would be the best canine cop in the world. He detects them a mile away.

I grew up on a farm and our dogs would hear who ever was coming home damn near a mile away. They'd often head for the driveway well before the family member coming home would pull in. I'd say they are smart, but one would routinely jump off the roof when she heard you caming home. Plowing gravel with her face.

[Silentz]

Wait, now the police are USING dogs and not shooting them? What is this world coming to?

[ChrisO]

A quote from the Ft. Bend County article:

In a lawsuit against Pikett, Fort Bend County, the county sheriff, the city of Yoakum and a police official, Easley alleges the scent lineup was "rigged."

Yep, that's about it. The dogs' sense of smell is more than keen enough to detect individual people, if the testing is handled properly. Dogs have an amazing ability to discriminate between individual scents. But I'm sure Barney Fife here either screwed up the test or rigged it.

[domoarrigato]

Judge: How did you know the defendant was carrying drugs?

Cop: the dog told me.

Defense attorney: Your honor, this is hearsay, I would like to call fido to the stand as my next witness.

[domoarrigato]

Dogs, have 10k years of evolution enabling them to survive by reacting to their owners in ways that please them - not by making independant decisions that inform their owners decision making.

[TrickyVic]

"""Wrongful arrest and imprisonment judgments should come out of the police pension fund."""

I highly disagee. I don't think it's fair to make retired cops pay. I say take it out of police budget. You wanted that shiny new police helocopter, too bad.

[TrickyVic]

Like hunting, not all dogs are good at it. It becomes bullshit when they rig a test to allow an incompentent dog to pass.

The dogs that can do it, do it well.

[NavyVet]

Like hunting, not all dogs are good at it. It becomes bullshit when they rig a test to allow an incompentent dog to pass.

The dogs that can do it, do it well.

I'll agree with that. And, even from the same litter the abilities can differ greatly. The breeder of my GSP has a pup from a litter that has the same sire as my pup. He took what he though was the pick of the litter and has ended up with a pup that is totally fucking useless. I know one of its litter mates and it seems to be shaping out to be a fine dog. Who the fuck knows what the diference is.

[Michael Ejercito]

Wake me when courts reject K-9 identification as probable cause for a search.

Establishing probable cause is a much lower burden than establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Yeah Right!!!]

Michael Ejercito:
"Establishing probable cause is a much lower burden than establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

You haven't been paying attention. Please review Balko's previous body of work.

[Nick]

Some dogs are very good at certain tasks, others are good at deserving to be punted off a bridge. In other words, they are like people. A well-trained dog determining someone has X on their person should be enough for a warrant, but not enough to search the person without a warrant. If too many warrants are issued because judges were lied to by malicious cops those cops and their dogs will lose credibility. Or they should, but I suppose that is another matter.