# Drug Smuggling & Drug-sniffing Dogs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326 "2008-04-29T05:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/1 "2008-04-29T05:33:15Z")
I was watching “America’s Port” tonight and saw a preview where the port police were using drug-sniffing dogs to detect illegal drugs being brought in by tourists returning to the states from a cruise ship. The handlers were bragging about how their dogs could find anything. I understand that a dog has a very good sense of smell, and these dogs are specially trained for the job, but I am wondering exactly what they are smelling. I know this show featured tourists, and not professional drug smugglers, but I know even the various tricks employed by pros are often not enough to avoid detection. So my question is; what are the dogs detecting? Is it that the packaging the smugglers are using is not sufficiently non-porus (air-tight) that the dogs can smell the drugs through all the sealing and packaging - or are the dogs detecting traces of the drugs on the outside of the packaging that was left there by the smugglers because they could not keep the outside clean enough during packing? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/2 "2008-04-29T08:03:38Z")
[QUOTE=stanger] So my question is; what are the dogs detecting? Is it that the packaging the smugglers are using is not sufficiently non-porus (air-tight) that the dogs can smell the drugs through all the sealing and packaging - or are the dogs detecting traces of the drugs on the outside of the packaging that was left there by the smugglers because they could not keep the outside clean enough during packing? [/QUOTE] Both. Many drugs are produced with volatile chemicals that remain in the drugs, and evaporate out. These volatiles **will** migrate through plastics - and they carry some molecules of the drug with them. And a sniffer dogs nose is really, really sensitive. I suspect that the dog is mainly detecting the solvents - the drugs don’t actually exist without them. Plus anything on the outside will contribute, and it does not need to be much due to the aforementioned sensitivity. And a package wrapped up tight with masking/duct tape will have it’s own specific smell which should attract the attention of a drug dog - they can sniff out pirate DVDs Si ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/3 "2008-04-29T08:13:02Z")
A couple of sniffer dogs were recently on loan to Kuala Lumpur. They specifically looked for pirate DVDs. They were so good that a price was put on their heads! (They returned to the US unscathed.) The dogs always look so cute, but I’m never sure if it’s proper to give them a little pat on the head. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/4 "2008-04-29T09:46:10Z")
[QUOTE=stanger] So my question is; what are the dogs detecting? Is it that the packaging the smugglers are using is not sufficiently non-porus (air-tight) that the dogs can smell the drugs through all the sealing and packaging - or are the dogs detecting traces of the drugs on the outside of the packaging that was left there by the smugglers because they could not keep the outside clean enough during packing? [/QUOTE] Sniffer dogs can also detect lingering odours in places where drugs once were but currently are not. [Link1](http://www.k9fleck.org/nlu18.htm). B) _United States v Guerrera (554 F. 2d 987 (1977) Ninth Circuit_ > [@](#): > > Narcotic detector dog that was trained to find contraband of cocaine and marijuana, also was trained to indicate where such contraband had been located within the past twenty-four hours. This dog is even more impressive: F) _Jennings v Joshua Independent School District (877 F. 2d 313 (1989) Fifth Circuit_ > [@](#): > > Police officer acted reasonably in obtaining a search warrant of a vehicle in a school parking lot to which a “sniffer-dog” had alerted. The search did not produce contraband, although the dog was capable of reacting to residual scents lingering for up to four to six weeks and the dog was proven to be reliable by detecting contraband. But this one really takes the biscuit: _G) United States v Allen (990 F. 2d 667 (1993) First Circuit_ > [@](#): > > Dog sniff test of Express Mail package containing LSD generated probable cause for issuance of warrant to search package for contraband, despite the fact that dog was not trained to find LSD and the trained dog alerted to the package. Everything you ever wanted to know about police canine sniffing, including the assertion that some dogs are as little as 54% accurate: [Link2](http://www.k9fleck.org/narlegal.htm) (same site). ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/5 "2008-04-29T09:54:02Z")
Mind you, if sniffer dogs are anything like some dogs I’ve known, they’ll just go up to somebody they like the look of because they want some fuss. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/6 "2008-04-29T11:06:39Z")
Fuckin’ snitches. Bunch of low-down, dirty dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/7 "2008-04-30T02:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Fuckin’ snitches. Bunch of low-down, dirty dogs. [/QUOTE] But awfully cute ones. They always look like they’re ready to play with you. A story about Lucky and Flo, those two I mentioned that were on loan to Malaysia, is [here](http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/16/asia/AS-GEN-Malaysia-DVD-Dogs.php). They were so successful at finding pirate DVDs that they received a hero’s farewell. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/8 "2008-04-30T14:30:20Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] The dogs always look so cute, but I’m never sure if it’s proper to give them a little pat on the head. [/QUOTE] I always want to do that, too, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to pet any working dog, whether it’s a sniffer dog or a seeing-eye dog. When I flew from Australia to Hawaii, I saw beagles sniffing luggage. I think they were looking for agricultural products. They were so cute… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/9 "2008-04-30T14:51:47Z")
Apparently they are also incredibly fallible. The NSW Ombudsman’s review of the use of sniffer dogs concluded amongst other things: Overwhelmingly, the use of drug detection dogs has led to public searches of individuals in which **no drugs were found** , or to the detection of (mostly young) adults in possession of very small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Also: **Rate of finding drugs** Almost all persons indicated by a drug detection dog were subsequently searched by police. This is in accordance with police policy which states that an indication by a drug detection dog gives police reasonable suspicion to search a person. Prohibited drugs were only located in 26% of the searches following an indication. That is, almost three-quarters of all indications did not result in the location of prohibited drugs. The rate of finding drugs varied from dog to dog, ranging from 7% (of all indications) to 56%. Six of the 17 dogs utilised during the review period had a rate of finding drugs higher than the overall average of 26%. However, a majority (11) of dogs had a rate of finding drugs lower than the overall average. From [here](http://www.nswombudsman.nsw.gov.au/show.asp?id=431) ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/10 "2008-04-30T16:19:53Z")
When I worked for T.S.A., the U.S. Customs had this one little dog that went around and sniffed for fruits, vegetables and plants. I asked how they trained him and he said that he wouldn’t go into details, but the dog was specifically trained to sniff for soil and dirt inside of bags and not so much the plants and fruits themselves. Weird, but it makes logical sense I guess, especially since fruits, veggies and plants mostly grow in…well…soil… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/11 "2008-04-30T16:33:38Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] When I flew from Australia to Hawaii, I saw beagles sniffing luggage. I think they were looking for agricultural products. They were so cute… [/QUOTE] About 15 years ago, they also trained Beagles in Hawaii to sniff the wheel wells of incoming planes from places like Guam for I think it was the brown tree snake. Hawaii is super-paranoid about snakes and with good reason, because brown tree snakes (I think that’s the snake) on Guam have eaten all the birds! The snakes often climb up into the wheel wells of planes, then slither away after landing someplace new. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/12 "2008-04-30T21:41:58Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] Sniffer dogs can also detect lingering odours in places where drugs once were but currently are not. [Link1](http://www.k9fleck.org/nlu18.htm). B) _United States v Guerrera (554 F. 2d 987 (1977) Ninth Circuit_ > [@](#): > > Narcotic detector dog that was trained to find contraband of cocaine and marijuana, also was trained to indicate where such contraband had been located within the past twenty-four hours. [/QUOTE] This makes me suspicious of the whole process. I have no cite, but isn’t a very large percentage of American paper money tainted with cocaine residue? It seems as though unless you actually find a prosecutable quantity of illegal narcotics, such an arrest would violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. Another question I have is about the explosive sniffing apparatus used by the TSA at airports. Are they also used to detect illegal drugs? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/13 "2008-04-30T22:05:32Z")
I’ve heard stories of drug dogs being trained to bark on command giving cops reason to search a vehicle. Any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/14 "2008-04-30T22:23:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Apparently they are also incredibly fallible. Part of the problem is that they can be too good. They might sniff out the scent of drugs on you because the person sitting next to you was smuggling drugs. Even though the dog had accurately detected drugs, it would look like a false detection when you’re searched. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/15 "2008-04-30T22:27:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve heard stories of drug dogs being trained to bark on command giving cops reason to search a vehicle. Any truth to this? Offhand, I’d say no. The training of the dogs is a matter of public record and is admissable in court. If a defense lawyer could show that a dog was trained to bark on command rather than when it detected rugs, he could have the probable cause overruled and any subsequent evidence thrown out. Obviously there could be clandestine training that is unrecorded but most police departments aren’t going to take that kind of risk. They’ve got a canine system set up that is working. They don’t want anyone ruining its credibility just to make a few false arrests. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/16 "2008-05-01T00:54:43Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] I have no cite, but isn’t a very large percentage of American paper money tainted with cocaine residue? It seems as though unless you actually find a prosecutable quantity of illegal narcotics, such an arrest would violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. [/QUOTE] That’s actually true. See [here](http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp). But it does not sound all that serious of a problem. The amounts are microscopic. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/17 "2008-05-01T00:59:21Z")
So if the smuggler put the drugs in a bitch and the the drug dogs keep sniffing her, do they just think it’s a dog thing? Especially if she’s in heat. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drug-smuggling-drug-sniffing-dogs/447326/18 "2008-05-01T07:10:27Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Apparently they are also incredibly fallible. The NSW Ombudsman’s review of the use of sniffer dogs concluded amongst other things: Overwhelmingly, the use of drug detection dogs has led to public searches of individuals in which **no drugs were found** , or to the detection of (mostly young) adults in possession of very small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Also: **Rate of finding drugs** Almost all persons indicated by a drug detection dog were subsequently searched by police. This is in accordance with police policy which states that an indication by a drug detection dog gives police reasonable suspicion to search a person. Prohibited drugs were only located in 26% of the searches following an indication. That is, almost three-quarters of all indications did not result in the location of prohibited drugs. The rate of finding drugs varied from dog to dog, ranging from 7% (of all indications) to 56%. Six of the 17 dogs utilised during the review period had a rate of finding drugs higher than the overall average of 26%. However, a majority (11) of dogs had a rate of finding drugs lower than the overall average. From [here](http://www.nswombudsman.nsw.gov.au/show.asp?id=431) [/QUOTE] From the quoted study > [@](#): > > In 7,547 incidents no drugs were found and in 99% (7,497) of these nothing at all was found. In the remaining 1% of incidents police noted finding knives, scissors and other non-drug related implements. Figure 6 summarises information recorded about searches where nothing was found. > In many circumstances where no drug was found, the person searched admitted to having had some contact with cannabis or to being at a place where cannabis was smoked. This accounted for almost 60% (4,456) of the ‘no drugs found’ group. Admissions were not necessarily statements of illegal activity by the person searched. It included any explanation for why the dog might have indicated the presence of a drug, such as the person having visited a venue where drug use might have occurred and other inadvertent contact with drug users or illegal drugs. So in a majority of the cases, the person admitted some contact with cannabis. Contact was denied by a fairly high percentage of people, but it can be expected that many people who were actually in contact would deny this contact to the police. It’s not that the dog is failing badly, its look more like this method does not discriminate between residual odor and odor from drugs in the person’s current possession. That is less of an issue of the dogs, than the policy of using an undiscriminating tool.