Drug-sniffing dogs in traffic stops often wrong

[The Straight Story]

Tribune analysis: Drug-sniffing dogs in traffic stops often wrong

Drug-sniffing dogs can give police probable cause to root through cars by the roadside, but state data show the dogs have been wrong more often than they have been right about whether vehicles contain drugs or paraphernalia.

The dogs are trained to dig or sit when they smell drugs, which triggers automobile searches. But a Tribune analysis of three years of data for suburban departments found that only 44 percent of those alerts by the dogs led to the discovery of drugs or paraphernalia.

For Hispanic drivers, the success rate was just 27 percent.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2011/01/tribune-analysis-drug-sniffing-dogs-in-traffic-stops-often-wrong.html

[RSillsbee]

1. The dogs are rewarded for a behavior

after awhile they just preform the behavior to get the reward

[Art_from_Ark]

2. Some dogs just sniff other animals on you

I got pulled out of the customs line once because a sniffer dog showed a strong interest in me and I was escorted to the back room. It turns out that the dog had gotten excited because it smelled the scents of family pets that I had held just before I left home.

[tabasco]

3. Just another sham to give police unfettered powers.

The disastrous "war on drugs" has only destroyed the Constitution and millions of lives.

[H2O Man]

4. In 2002,

the principal of my older son's high school had the state police bring a dog to the school one morning. The dog "indicated" about 40 kids' lockers, coats, etc. Not a single one had any pot.

My son was held by the police, in the principal's office, from 9am to 2pm. He was not allowed to call me (or anyone else). When they did their search at 2, they found the dog was alerting on a tube of lip balm.

I am serious. And, of course, I was unhappy at the time. I was fully aware of the law, and the principal's legal obligation to notify me at the time.

At the next school board meeting, there was an unsuccessful attempt to ignore myself and a group of angry parents, and a couple reporters I had notified. We were not on the official "agenda." Get that weak shit out of here, was my approximate response. Initially, anyhow.

I suggested that if there was a drug problem in the school, that the administration make the community aware of it. Seek community involvement. Have the student council set up a program in the evening for the public, with a panel discussion involving students, teachers, administrators, parents, and police.

My son was the head of student council, and so it happened. The public turned out for it. My son had my ability to create theater in such situations, and put the principal on the hot seat for his violations of the law regarding holding my son for having lip balm.

[mopinko]

5. your kids are very lucky.

but it is sad that they would need you for things like that.
i fought a lot of battles for my kids, too, and always remembered to remind the vanquished that they need to look at how it works for the kids whose parents are not there for them, for whatever reason. it is a shame.

[mopinko]

6. argh. gremlins

[LiberalFighter]

11. Should had pushed to have the principal fired.

Oh and file a lawsuit against him too for failing to notify you.

[H2O Man]

13. Two options that

were considered.

In 1988, I was the head of the PTA, and worked with a board member to get an assistant superintendent fired. He had wrote a curious note to a high school girl who babysat his children. It wasn't enough to have him arrested, though close. It definitely ended his time at the school. He went quietly, which I didn't like, as it allowed him to go elsewhere.

This principal was a jackass, but he was following the police's lead. In almost every instance, I seek to turn something bad into something good. I decided that there was greater benefit in what I did. My goal was to role model for the students, and to increase community interest in the school in things other than sports. Certainly, the other option you mention has benefits, too.

In regard to a law suit, it likely would have at least brought media attention and headaches for the school. But I can always get media coverage in this area, for anything I want. And I believe that having public meetings to discuss and even debate issues, in an attempt to find a resolution, should always come before court. Again, others can and do think otherwise, and I respect that. But I have my own way of dealing with conflict.

[marmar]

7. "For Hispanic drivers, the success rate was just 27 percent"

Bizarre.....That makes me wonder if the dogs are responding to the attitudes/body language of the cops that are using them.

[backscatter712]

9. See my post below - unscrupulous cops do train or manipulate their dogs to false-alert on cue. n/t

[backscatter712]

8. The pigs intentionally manipulate their dogs to false-alert on cue.

They'll give the dogs a subtle cue, like "Get the ball!" (the reward for drug dogs for successful alerts is play-with-the-ball-time, so bring out the reward prematurely, and they'll do their alert behavior prematurely) and they'll alert on cue, giving the pigs "probable cause" to toss your car or home, maybe plant something on you.

[w8liftinglady]

10. That was pretty much my partner's response and he trained dogs

for 20 years in the military (mainly for bomb-sniffing and defense,but also for drug sniffing)

He said the dog is only as good as the handler... and this was an indication of a poorly- managed training program that violated standards.

[Dappleganger]

12. I'd rather be smelt by a dog than felt up by a TSA stranger.