021. Narcotics and Evidence Dogs
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This article is from the Working Dogs FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
021. Narcotics and Evidence Dogs
This is commonly considered a subset of SAR. Dogs can be trained to alert (by barking, pointing, or pawing) on controlled substances such as drugs, agricultural products (e.g., in customs or at borders), and nearly anything else (for example, gunpowder (to detect guns), bomb materials, arson materials). Narcotic dogs are trained to search through buildings, cars, and luggage for their scent. They can be trained to alert on more than one kind of drug, and can do so despite ingenious efforts on the smuggler's part: dogs have been known to locate drugs concealed in gasoline, rotting food, skunk oil, and many other efforts. They can be trained to discriminate between large and small amounts: in fact some dogs are trained to whiff passing vehicles; if it alerts on one, that vehicle can be stopped later and searched without directly involving the dog and its handler.
Evidence dogs are trained to search for items bearing human scent, sometimes specific human scent. They are utilized in crime scenes to find evidence thrown away by a suspect. Such evidence can be later used (if handled properly) by a Bloodhound to link the scent on it to a suspect: several such cases have been deemed admissible evidence in court.
Dogs that are trained to alert on contraband items are almost always owned by law enforcement personnel, as these individuals can most easily legally obtain small quantities of contraband to train their dog with. In other words, average citizens do not train narcotic dogs because of legal difficulties. The dog's training record must record legal acquisition of contraband material used in training: if no such record exists, or the dog does not have a training record, then its evidence will not be accepted in court. (In other words, don't try this at home. Similar problems exist for the cadaver dog: dead human parts must be legally obtained.)
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