https://reason.com/2021/05/13/the-police-dog-who-cried-drugs-at-every-traffic-stop/ * Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets Reason logo Reason logo * Home * Latest * Magazine + Current Issue + Archives + Subscribe * Video * Podcasts + All Shows + The Reason Roundtable + The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie + The Soho Forum Debates * Volokh * Newsletters * Donate + Donate Online + Ways To Give To Reason Foundation + Torchbearer Society + Planned Giving * Subscribe + Print/Digital Subscriptions + Gift Subscriptions Search for: [ ] [Search] You are now logged in. Email Address[ ] Password[ ] Log In Forgot your password? Create new account Fourth Amendment The Police Dog Who Cried Drugs at Every Traffic Stop Cops laugh about "probable cause on four legs" but the damage to innocent lives is real. Daryl James | 5.13.2021 7:00 AM Media Contact & Reprint Requests K9_Karma (Republic Police Department) Don't blame Karma. The police dog simply followed his training when he helped local agencies impound vehicles that sometimes belonged to innocent motorists in Republic, Washington, an old mining town near the Canadian border. As a drug detection dog, Karma kept his nose down and treated every suspect the same. Public records show that from the time he arrived in Republic in January 2018 until his handler took a leave of absence to campaign for public office in 2020, Karma gave an "alert" indicating the presence of drugs 100 percent of the time during roadside sniffs outside vehicles. Whether drivers actually possessed illegal narcotics made no difference. The government gained access to every vehicle that Karma ever sniffed. He essentially created automatic probable cause for searches and seizures, undercutting constitutional guarantees of due process. Similar patterns abound nationwide, suggesting that Karma's career was not unusual. Lex, a drug detection dog in Illinois, alerted for narcotics 93 percent of the time during roadside sniffs, but was wrong in more than 40 percent of cases. Sella, a drug detection dog in Florida, gave false alerts 53 percent of the time. Bono, a drug detection dog in Virginia, incorrectly indicated the presence of drugs 74 percent of the time. Despite the frequent errors, courts typically treat certified narcotics dogs as infallible, allowing law enforcement agencies to use them like blank permission slips to enter vehicles, open suitcases, and rummage through purses. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, shows a financial motive for the snooping in its 2020 report, Policing for Profit. Local, state, and federal agencies have raked in more than $68.8 billion in proceeds since 2000 through a process called civil forfeiture. The money making scheme, which allows the government to seize and keep assets without a criminal conviction, often starts with a police search, which requires probable cause, which often comes with a K-9 sniff. Institute for Justice clients in Wyoming, Oklahoma, and elsewhere all lost cash and had to fight to get it back after police dogs gave false alerts outside their vehicles. 'Probable Cause on Four Legs' Some handlers jokingly refer to their K-9 partners as "probable cause on four legs." But Wendy Farris, a real estate agent from Great Falls, Montana, did not laugh when Karma gave an alert outside her red Toyota Prius on August 17, 2018. Her ordeal, which led to a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, started with a birthday party invitation. Farris promised her grandson that she would attend his celebration in Oregon, so she packed her car and hit the road. Rather than drive directly to the event, she made plans to visit a friend near Republic. While there, the friend's estranged daughter called for help, explaining that she was living on the streets in California and wanted to come home. Farris agreed to go with her friend on a rescue mission--more than 1,300 miles round trip with few breaks--leaving both women exhausted and sleep-deprived when they returned to Washington with the contrite daughter. Despite the fatigue, Farris remained determined to attend her grandson's party, so she got back in her car and headed south alone. Predictably, she almost immediately felt drowsy and decided to park in a safe spot and rest at the junction of U.S. Route 20 and state Route 21 in Republic. A Ferry County sheriff's deputy found Farris asleep behind the wheel and ordered her to submit to a field sobriety test. Farris, who had no prior arrests and doesn't drink, had not consumed any drugs or alcohol (which a blood test later confirmed) yet the deputy arrested her on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and called a K-9 unit to the scene. That's when Karma showed up with his handler, Loren Culp, who served as Republic's police chief until the city dissolved its department in November 2020. Culp led Karma on a leash around Farris' vehicle twice. Then Culp paused and pointed to a rear panel with the palm of his hand, and Karma sat down--his trained final response indicating the presence of drugs. The alert gave Culp and the deputy probable cause to impound the vehicle, while Karma got to chew on his favorite toy as a reward for his work. The only unhappy person at the scene was Farris, who knew her car contained no alcohol, drugs, drug residue, paraphernalia, or weapons. A search at the impound yard turned up $4,956 in cash but nothing illegal. Rather than release Farris and apologize, the county locked her up and held her over the weekend without charges. She eventually got her cash and vehicle back, but she missed her grandson's party. Instead of birthday cake and ice cream, she got jail food and a bill for hygiene supplies. Motorist Fares I. Said met a similar fate after an encounter with Karma. When a Washington State Patrol officer clocked Said going 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, the officer pulled him over. When Said acted "suspicious and evasive" in answering questions, the officer called Culp and asked for K-9 backup. Karma circled the Jeep and sat down. Based on the alert, the police impounded the vehicle. A search later produced "several $100 bills" but no drugs or paraphernalia. Said, who lived at the time in Lynnwood north of Seattle, was innocent but got stuck with impound fees and an eight-mile walk back to town. Social Media Darling Overall, the police found drugs in 29 percent of the vehicles that Karma flagged during his time in Republic. Other vehicles contained paraphernalia, bringing Karma's combined score to 64 percent. The result would be respectable (better than a coin toss!) if it were based on a random sample of vehicles. But the police do not work that way. When they deploy a drug dog at a traffic stop, they often have prior knowledge or suspicion that a search will produce something interesting. Many motorists in Republic made things easy for officers. One SUV driver admitted to using heroin and having needles in her vehicle. The owner of a Ford Expedition confessed to meth and marijuana use, and the arresting officer seized drug paraphernalia from the man's pockets prior to Karma's arrival on the scene. In nearly every case, officers had probable cause to conduct searches without a narcotics sniff. Yet Culp led Karma on a leash around the vehicles anyway, and then bragged on Facebook about the dog's uncanny ability to find drugs. "Once again Karma's nose knows where the drugs are," Culp wrote on his Facebook page following a November 2018 stop. What Culp failed to mention was that prior to Karma's involvement, the driver had led police on a chase, crashed his Toyota RAV4 at the Ferry County Fairgrounds and fled on foot--leaving his girlfriend behind. Search and seizure of the vehicle were inevitable even without Karma's nose. The real confirmation of the dog's detective skills would have come from walking around a drug-free vehicle and not giving a trained final response. Karma failed this test every time. When he had a chance to stop the impound of an innocent owner's vehicle, his success rate was zero percent. Born To Please False alerts, which create problems for people like Farris and Said, sometimes have nothing to do with a dog's nose. Brain scientist Federico Rossano, who studies animal communication with humans at the University of California, San Diego, says dogs have an innate sense of loyalty that can override their sense of smell. "The tendency of producing signals even when they detect nothing comes from the desire to please the human handler," he says. Essentially, intelligent animals pick up subtle cues from their handlers and respond. Rossano says the communication often occurs by accident without anyone being aware. Clever Hans, a horse celebrated in the early 1900s for his math ability, provides the most prominent example. The proud owner truly believed that Hans could solve arithmetic problems, but skeptics later proved that the horse merely was responding to facial expressions and body language from his human companion. A 2011 study from the University of California, Davis, shows how cues can influence drug detection dogs. When human handlers believed that narcotics were hidden in test areas, their canine partners were much more likely to indicate the presence of drugs--even when no drugs actually existed. Police participants did not like the implications. But rather than using the findings to improve their training techniques, they denounced the study and refused further cooperation. They preferred a 2014 study from Poland, which eliminated the potential for false positives. Rather than simulating real-world conditions, researchers ensured that every test included measurable quantities of narcotics. Participating dogs had no opportunity to sniff drug-free vehicles and communicate a lack of odor. The only correct answer was an indication for drugs. Karma could have aced such a test simply by sitting down every time. He would have looked like a prodigy, but a broken dial stuck on "alert" would have achieved the same result. Something like this might have happened with Karma. Culp reports on Facebook that his dog passed his training with "zero misses" in 2018 and again in 2019. Culp cites the perfect scores as evidence of Karma's skills, but law enforcement consultant Mary Cablk sees a red flag. "That's a problem," she says. "It shouldn't be like that." Cablk, who studies narcotics detection at Desert Research Institute in Nevada, says effective training must mimic real-world conditions as much as possible. If dogs have certain error rates in the field, they should have similar error rates in experimental environments. "In training if a dog is perfect and never misses, and never is recorded to make a mistake, then there are a couple of problems," Cablk says. "Either the training is not rigorous or the recordkeeping is bad." Courts tend to overlook the complexities when evaluating evidence from a dog sniff, but Cablk recently testified in a Utah case that put K-9 teams on alert. Rather than accepting all training programs as equal and infallible, a federal judge looked deeper and raised serious concerns about shortcuts in Utah. Other jurisdictions could benefit from this type of scrutiny, although increased oversight would not affect Culp and Karma. Both have moved on to new opportunities. After losing in 2020 as the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Culp filed paperwork to challenge Rep. Dan Newhouse to represent Washington's 4th Congressional District. Meanwhile, Karma moved to private security with Spokane-based Phoenix Protective Corporation. Republic no longer has a K-9 team or police department, yet the lessons remain. Some dogs are reliable, but courts should recognize that particular sniffs from particular dogs might not be good indicators of probable cause. Circumstances change from case to case, and nothing should be automatic. K-9 teams should not give the same response 100 percent of the time, and neither should the judges who hold them accountable. NEXT: Refusing To Show ID Is Not a Crime Daryl James is a writer at the Institute for Justice. Fourth Amendment dogs Police Police Abuse Washington State Privacy Criminal Justice Search and Seizure Civil Asset Forfeiture Media Contact & Reprint Requests Show Comments (105) Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses. 1. Chumby May.13.2021 at 7:06 am At least the town decided to paws this activity. Log in to Reply 1. RabbiHarveyWeinstein May.13.2021 at 8:23 am They call him "Old Yeller" for a reason you know. Log in to Reply 1. 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Gray_Jay May.13.2021 at 9:30 am Yeah, but judges are supposed to have a little bit more on the ball. And they continually rubberstamp this shit. Because it's convenient, and very few in the system really care about an accused's rights anyway. There's no way, over the course of this dog's working life, that some defense attorney didn't point out to the judge, "This dog alerts on everything!" And the judge blew him off. LOL at anything in forensic criminology, besides DNA typing, surviving an independent Daubert hearing. Even half of the stuff the FBI Lab gets up to. Prosecutors get these things admitted because they sound like they should work, and again, because nobody cares very much about the people who get caught in the Sausage Maker of Justice. Log in to Reply 2. C. S. P. Schofield May.17.2021 at 6:49 pm A lot of people who pride themselves on being 'very smart' fall for the most appalling bushwa. I suspect that cops are, on average, smarter then the typical Antifa protester, for example. The problem isn't stupid cops. The problem is stupid incentives combined with the ridiculous idea that the State stands in loco parentis to the public. Log in to Reply 5. weibullguy May.13.2021 at 7:50 am I trained my dog to alert when she detects government incompetence or corruption. She also has a 100% success rate. Log in to Reply 1. MatthewSlyfield May.13.2021 at 8:00 pm Did she die from the stress of being on alert constantly? Log in to Reply 6. Emerson Shonkwiler May.13.2021 at 7:53 am Dogs are pieces of shit. So are cops. Let the cops shoot the dogs. Let the dogs maul the cops. Problem solved. Log in to Reply 1. Quo Usque Tandem May.13.2021 at 9:34 am "Dogs are pieces of shit." We have a sign in our house that reads: "If Our Dog Doesn't Like You, We Probably Won't Either" Hasn't failed me yet. Log in to Reply 7. R Mac May.13.2021 at 8:26 am "A search at the impound yard turned up $4,956 in cash but nothing illegal." Sounds suspicious. Log in to Reply 8. Chumby May.13.2021 at 9:06 am There is that one dog breed that can detect gang members. The criphound. Log in to Reply 1. Gray_Jay May.13.2021 at 9:31 am Nice. "Pick me! Pick me!" Log in to Reply 9. D-Pizzle May.13.2021 at 9:08 am "Rossano says the communication often occurs by accident without anyone being aware." So much BS here. Why do some people bend over backwards to cover for the cops. These are not "drug sniffing" dogs. they're "alert" dogs. Log in to Reply 10. Fist of Etiquette May.13.2021 at 9:18 am Essentially, intelligent animals pick up subtle cues from their handlers and respond. Rossano says the communication often occurs by accident without anyone being aware. Uh-huh. Log in to Reply 11. Anomalous May.13.2021 at 9:25 am Dogs don't lie, but their handlers sure do. Log in to Reply 1. Trollificus May.13.2021 at 12:50 pm That cops dog was trained to "alert" when he wanted a treat. Good doggie. Log in to Reply 12. Brian May.13.2021 at 9:26 am The dog in the picture is clearly high. That explains a lot. Log in to Reply 13. UFF May.13.2021 at 9:27 am Loren Culp --- 2020 GOP gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp has filed to challenge Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, WA. Loren Culp who lost Washington governor race in 2020 by 13% sues state official, alleging voter fraud. Log in to Reply 1. ElvisIsReal May.13.2021 at 12:44 pm I know this isn't the most scientific data, but before the election I was asking everybody in my circle who they were voting for. 23 Culp, 1 Inslee. Log in to Reply 1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) May.17.2021 at 12:00 pm If you live outside the Seattle metro area, that wouldn't be unusual. Log in to Reply 14. Quo Usque Tandem May.13.2021 at 9:32 am "They preferred a 2014 study from Poland, which eliminated the potential for false positives. Rather than simulating real-world conditions, researchers ensured that every test included measurable quantities of narcotics." Cue the jokes. Log in to Reply 1. Trollificus May.13.2021 at 12:54 pm Just the punchline: "The Polish scientist frowned and thought, and then made an entry in the notebook: "Frog with no legs can't hear." You can reverse engineer the joke, I'm sure. It has animal cruelty and racism against Poles. Not as good as my "Ni**er Doctor" joke, which has racism and sexism, but still pretty good. Log in to Reply 15. Bubba Jones May.13.2021 at 9:33 am Honestly if HALF of the time that this cop requests a dog, he was right about narcotics, I'm impressed. Either he is really good at profiling people or he's planting drugs. Log in to Reply 1. American Mongrel May.13.2021 at 10:38 am Thats what I thought too. 64% for a human guessing is pretty good. Log in to Reply 1. DarthHusker May.13.2021 at 1:15 pm The wide disecrepency between the actual drugs and "paraphernalia" makes me suspect they are being overbroad on what constitutes paraphernalia. Log in to Reply 2. Zeb May.13.2021 at 10:54 am Sometimes it's not too hard. It is eastern Washington. No shortage of meth-addled weirdos. Log in to Reply 16. Logistika May.13.2021 at 9:34 am Wasn't Loren Culp on the WA state ticket under the R banner running for governor or Lt. Governor last election? Is this the same guy? Log in to Reply 1. A Stranger May.13.2021 at 12:04 pm Same one. Now he's running for US Congress. Guess he'll be searching Congress people for drugs now. Log in to Reply 1. Call me Don May.13.2021 at 12:20 pm Let's hope he finds probable cause to arrest them all. Log in to Reply 17. Cyto May.13.2021 at 9:35 am This is not a police problem. This is a court problem. The courts are already notoriously bad at handling forensic evidence. They are also already notoriously bad at forcing police to reach the proper threshold before obtaining a search warrant. Add in asset forfeiture and funneling part of the money to the courts and you have the unholy trinity. Of course this ends badly. It could not go any other way given the incentives that play and the relative competencies of the parties. This is down to the courts to recognize that police are making an end run around probable cause. And asset forfeiture? I suppose that is down to the politicians to fix since the courts are not going to do it. The police are like low-level employees. They are going to do whatever makes their job the easiest. This is true of all low-level employees. This is why you design your business processes and systems to properly align incentives such that you avoid unintentioned consequences. Right now, police are incentivized to violate the rights of motorists in these situations. And the controls that are in place to prevent this are extremely weak. That is it bad combination. And blaming the police is like blaming the dog for jumping up on the guest. That's on the owner, not the dog. Log in to Reply 1. Gray_Jay May.13.2021 at 10:21 am Very well said as usual, Cyto. Log in to Reply 1. programsgulf.com May.13.2021 at 5:13 pm Thanks for this < please check out that https:// www.programs-gulf.com/redirect/ Log in to Reply 2. Trollificus May.13.2021 at 1:01 pm Very good. Add UNqualified immunity and the 1033 Program ("Wow! This half-track's great! And it's got machine gun mounts! Can we get a machine gun, Chief? Can we? Can we? It's my birthday!") and it's no wonder cops find themselves unpopular, instead of heroes. Of course, the positive view of cops was back when they would help you break into your car, give walking drunks rides home, and rescue Granny's kitten from a tree. All that Officer Friendly shit was real (going back far enough, I guess). THEY were the ones who were more excited by 'roided up, eye-blacked SWAT action, the freaks. Log in to Reply 3. DarthHusker May.13.2021 at 1:18 pm Agreed, though I'd suggest it's still also a police problem, because American police are also supposed to respect the constitution and not find ways to bypass it. But like you said, police are always going to do stuff like this, and it's the courts job to stop them. Log in to Reply 1. JohnZ May.14.2021 at 1:13 pm I seriously doubt that any cop has ever read a single paragraph of the Constitution or Bill of Rights. Most of them can barely read. To paraphrase Henry Kissmyassinger," Cops are nothing more than stupid, dumb animals to be used fro NWO policy." Log in to Reply 18. Rich May.13.2021 at 10:09 am Karma gave an "alert" indicating the presence of drugs 100 percent of the time during roadside sniffs outside vehicles , including *police* vehicles, right? RIGHT?! Log in to Reply 1. Brandybuck May.13.2021 at 10:50 am "Where's the drugs boy? Where's the drugs?" [dog sniffs officer's pants...] Log in to Reply 19. Adans smith May.13.2021 at 10:37 am This is on the trainer and handler. i have trained hunting labs for 30 years for myself and friends. Used feathers and frozen birds from the year before planted for upland and waterfowl birds. I never tell a dog to hunt dead for no reason. Once they know the scent it's all on them, no clues from me unless it's a water kill I can se and they can't. Then only hand singles for the right direction.. This dog was taught there is always drugs. Hunting for grouse and upland birds the dog does all the work. Log in to Reply 1. D-Pizzle May.13.2021 at 11:57 am The difference is that you actually care whether the dog is wrong. Log in to Reply 20. Brandybuck May.13.2021 at 10:49 am I'm glad the story brought up Clever Hans. That horse fooled the leading scientists of his day. But any idiot knows you can train a dog to bark to command, which makes the myth that police dogs are never wrong so fucking pathetic. Do a blind smell test. Single blind. But a baggie of pot in one box, a baggie of oregano in the other. Tell the dog's handler (the cop) that the oregano is the pot, and the dog will magically detect the oregano as the pot. Even though a noseless bum could smell the difference. Log in to Reply 1. Call me Don May.13.2021 at 12:23 pm A burglar got caught in the act by a home owner in my neighborhood, fled the house and was at large in the neighborhood someplace. The police were going yard to yard with a police dog searching for him. My dog faced off with the police dog at my back yard gate and would not let them in. I like to think he was demanding a warrant. Log in to Reply 2. StackOfCoins May.13.2021 at 3:06 pm This still gives a 50% chance of being right by accident. What you do is make them both oregano, tell the cop one is pot, and wait for the dog to signal. Then you break the news. Log in to Reply 3. retiredfire May.13.2021 at 6:27 pm I've never figured out how the courts allow a "witness", whose word is relied upon for a search to be conducted, but can't be cross-examined, is allowed to "testify". Defense attorney: "Now, Fido, tell the jury how you are sure you didn't smell some food on the car, but that you were sure you smelled drugs". Log in to Reply 21. American Socia1ist May.13.2021 at 11:20 am Wait... she had $4,926 in cash in her car. Uh, I'm no fan of police but-- you know-- come on. Log in to Reply 1. Brandybuck May.13.2021 at 11:45 am It's not a crime to have cash. Seriously, it's not. Stop being a fucking socialist. Log in to Reply 1. American Socia1ist May.13.2021 at 12:10 pm I'm a socialist because I don't really care for the police and hate the military-- seeing them as institutions that enforce oppression and maintain a status quo that enshrines a rich elite. Still... you know... you have to consider the facts at hand and someone having $5,000 in the car is most likely doing something shady. Log in to Reply 1. Call me Don May.13.2021 at 12:25 pm Don't socialist countries have police and military? And often very bad human rights records? Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 12:39 pm Yes, of course. There's a reason the term "useful idiot" was coined. Log in to Reply 1. American Socia1ist May.13.2021 at 1:21 pm Why do you guys get so bitchy when I start talking about military spending. Let me guess... ex-military, right? Which country were you duped into invading? Vietnam or Iraq? Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 1:53 pm Not ex-military, and not against cutting military spending. I'm against socialists spouting nonsense about socialism being some sort of path to getting rid of police or military. Log in to Reply 2. Zeb May.13.2021 at 1:06 pm Then you should be an anarchist. Can't have socialism without police to enforce it. Doing legal things that might look shady is not a crime, or even reasonable cause for suspicion. There are many perfectly legal reasons to carry lots of cash. Including "because I fucking felt like it". Log in to Reply 1. American Socia1ist May.13.2021 at 1:28 pm Where did I say carrying around $5000 should be a crime? I just said it was shady as fuck. Which it is. Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 1:55 pm There's a lot of reasons a successful adult could be carrying that much cash. Log in to Reply 1. StackOfCoins May.13.2021 at 3:07 pm Top shelf whores are expensive. Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 3:10 pm That's certainly one of them! Log in to Reply 3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) May.17.2021 at 12:42 pm I feel like this is a troll. Log in to Reply 2. Chumby May.13.2021 at 12:27 pm Just a few stimulus checks. Log in to Reply 22. Dillinger May.13.2021 at 11:55 am To Catch a Smuggler leads me to believe the dogs are always correct. Log in to Reply 23. David Nieporent May.13.2021 at 11:59 am Blame Justice Kagan for the awful Florida v. Harris decision that held that as long as a dog was trained as a drug dog, it doesn't matter how the dog actually performs in real life. Log in to Reply 1. American Socia1ist May.13.2021 at 12:16 pm Hey David, I went to your Twitter page... People: Hillary got 3 million more votes than Trump. Trumpkin: You dummies don't even know that popular votes are meaningless. Cry more, libs. Facts don't care about your feelings. Also Trumpkin: What about the feelings of the 75 million minority of people who voted for Trump? You seem half way sensible. What are you doing here? Log in to Reply 2. DarthHusker May.13.2021 at 1:22 pm Why Kagan? It was a unanimous decision, despite being utterly asinine. It's one of those decisions that let's you see how high court judges live in a bubble. Log in to Reply 1. Gray_Jay May.13.2021 at 3:00 pm +1 "increasing professionalism of police forces." Log in to Reply 24. DarthHusker May.13.2021 at 1:13 pm If this handler was the same Loren Culp who lost the election by 14% and still tried to claim he won due to election fraud, I think I was able to sus out where the problem was. It wasn't the doggo. And honestly, this isn't surprising. A lot of studies have shown handler expectations and behavior influences the dog's behavior. Dogs aren't actually trained to indicate to a smell, they are trained to indicate when theit masters want them to (this is Baucus vaccine psychology), and it's just that good handlers/ trainers convey that they only want them to when they detect a smell. But if a Handley, say, gives the dog a treat every time it indicates... Log in to Reply 25. Unicorn Abattoir May.13.2021 at 1:15 pm No "Karma's a bitch" jokes? I'm very disappointed in you people. Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 2:03 pm That's because he's a male dog. Log in to Reply 1. Unicorn Abattoir May.13.2021 at 2:58 pm A male, walked around on a leash by another male? Sounds like a bitch to me. Log in to Reply 1. R Mac May.13.2021 at 3:11 pm Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. -- Tony Log in to Reply 2. Chumby May.13.2021 at 11:06 pm Scraps is a boy dog Log in to Reply 26. impossible game May.13.2021 at 3:58 pm Traffickers and drug dealers will have a harder time dealing with him. great! impossible game Log in to Reply 27. MatthewSlyfield May.13.2021 at 4:06 pm "The only unhappy person at the scene was Farris, who knew her car contained no alcohol, drugs, drug residue, paraphernalia, or weapons." If there was cash in the vehicle, there probably was drug residue. According to the US government, something like 80% of circulating US dollar bills are contaminated with detectable amounts of cocaine. Log in to Reply 28. Chief Tomoka May.13.2021 at 4:56 pm One cannot cross examine a dog. Log in to Reply 1. retiredfire May.13.2021 at 6:32 pm Which should make it that you can't use them in court. We have a right to confront our accuser. Log in to Reply 1. MatthewSlyfield May.13.2021 at 8:02 pm The cops treat them as officers. The courts treat them as pieces of equipment. You can't cross examine a breathalyzer either. Log in to Reply 1. KHP54 May.15.2021 at 12:44 pm https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30566515/ michigan-breathalyzer-issues/ Get back to me when a state tosses 30,000 drugs sniffing claims due to problems with the dog handlers or records showing the dogs ongoing certifications as accurate Log in to Reply 2. Chumby May.13.2021 at 11:07 pm It would be interesting to have the dog perform in court on say 20 samples. Some with narcotics and some without. Log in to Reply 29. BigGiveNotBigGov May.13.2021 at 5:00 pm Police having and using dogs is a form of animal abuse. This corrupt exploitation of dogs as "probable cause on four legs" is much milder than the beatings and killings of their own police dogs by police, but it is largely the cause for the dogs being at the mercy of the police in the first place. A.C.A.B. All Cops Are Bureaucrats "It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him." ~ H. L. Mencken Log in to Reply 30. jamesrk May.13.2021 at 5:31 pm Can we just say that in the instances cited one can make a reasonable guess that the dogs were not wrong , just late and alerting to lingering traces. Log in to Reply 31. James K. Polk May.13.2021 at 5:41 pm I blame this on judges. They know drug sniffing dogs are bullshit, they understand the 4th amendment and know these are violations, they have the power to stop this and yet they choose not to because they want to be liked by cops and prosecutors. Log in to Reply 32. Enquirer May.14.2021 at 3:21 am When 7-year-old Danielle van Dam went missing from her San Diego home in 2002, the police suspected neighbor David Westerfield, so they applied for a search warrant. They told the judge that their search dog had NOT alerted to her scent, either in his house or outside his motor home, which is evidence of innocence, but the judge issued a search warrant anyway. At the time of the dog searches, the handler said his search dog did NOT alert, and made NO comment about his cadaver dog. But two weeks later, when Westerfield was arrested, he said he thought his cadaver dog MAY have alerted. And at Westerfield's trial four months later, he was certain that the cadaver dog HAD alerted. I now lack confidence in dog handlers. Log in to Reply 33. Truthteller1 May.14.2021 at 8:03 am It's outrageous. The bots joking about it are idiots. Log in to Reply 34. Echospinner May.14.2021 at 9:08 am Drugs should not be a crime in the first place. Log in to Reply 35. Enemy of the State May.14.2021 at 10:17 am So much for "man's best friend"! Log in to Reply 36. ColoradoKook May.14.2021 at 11:09 am Two unrelated thoughts: 1) Why haven't we called out drug sniffing dogs as pseudoscience? It seems to me this is on the same level of phrenology. 2) From this woman's story, she seems to be addicted to drama. You know the type, always a crisis, or always lying. So, she drove out there for a birthday party, but got shanghaied into a rescue mission that would put her at risk of missing her grandson's celebration? When I go on road trips, I tend to carry a few hundred in cash, but never thousands. What's up with that? Conclusion: she's a coyote transporting people over the Canadian border. I have a 100% accuracy guarantee on my conspiracy theories. Log in to Reply 1. Davy C May.16.2021 at 3:00 pm Drug sniffing dogs aren't pseudoscience. Dogs, like people, can recognize scents. I don't think there's any scientific disagreement on that. Log in to Reply 37. JohnZ May.14.2021 at 1:23 pm It would be interesting why the town of Republic, Washington, fired the entire police department. Could it be the department became so corrupt and self serving, they were totally useless? Or that they began preying on the townspeople? Might be worth the investigation . Won't be the first time nor the last time. It's good to know just how inaccurate these animals truly are. The time is long past to challenge the use of these dogs as well as end civil asset forfeiture and immunity. Log in to Reply 38. voluntaryist May.14.2021 at 8:45 pm When lawmakers pass unconstitutional laws, LEOs blindly enforce them, and the courts approve, the political paradigm of force & fraud becomes obvious. The question becomes: Who will protect us from the protectors the system creates? The Founding Fathers were clear on this. "We the People" have a duty to abolish and replace the form of government. I suggest a new paradigm based on reason, not force/fraud, rights, not consensus, and individual choice, not mob rule (democracy). The failed system has had 8000 years. Isn't it time to try its opposite? Log in to Reply 1. Davy C May.16.2021 at 3:07 pm What system has been in place for 8000 years? Democracy? Even Ancient Greece isn't half that old. Log in to Reply 39. Gargoyle3 May.15.2021 at 3:52 pm Keep telling yourself about all the "good" cops out there. I am not for defund the police by any means. BUT I am totally for retraining the police and making THEM accountable not the taxpayers. Sorry but if a "good" cop knows others are bad, and doesn't turn them in, then they are also bad cops. Log in to Reply 40. Eeyore May.15.2021 at 4:49 pm Nothing changes. We used to believe witchsmellers could actually smell a witch and now we believe dogs can actually smell a criminal. It has and always will be a superstitious performance. Funny how the courts have accepted both as legit. Log in to Reply 41. croaker May.15.2021 at 5:44 pm Simple solution: Every drug dog that has a false positive shall be destroyed by the handler with his own service weapon. Log in to Reply 42. wapexclusive May.17.2021 at 5:04 am You're defending someone who has said dictionary and encyclopedia definitions were "written by progressives." However, if it suits them they become undisputable facts. ML is either senile like Sevo or a liar. https://wapexclusive.com ,They will claim I've said things I haven't. Or play dumb when I have said something that may poke holes in their narrative. Log in to Reply Please log in to post comments Latest Gun Buybacks Don't Seem To Significantly Lower Gun Crimes or Gun Deaths Brian Doherty | 5.17.2021 5:14 PM Is 2021 the YIMBY Movement's Time to Shine on Capitol Hill? Christian Britschgi | 5.17.2021 4:43 PM Trump's Trade War With Europe Is Biden's Trade War Now Eric Boehm | 5.17.2021 3:55 PM Some Officials Want To Keep Mandating Masks, Despite the CDC Guidance Robby Soave | 5.17.2021 2:29 PM Immigration Is the Most Important Way To Beat China Stuart Anderson | 5.17.2021 2:15 PM Recommended Most Read JESSECULT1 Cults Cult Country Is this a new age of cultism--or a new cult panic? 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