NCJ Number
195065
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 2002 Pages: 169-182
Date Published
2002
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper is a review of literature written on the utilization of the police dog as a tool to discriminate certain types of scents, search for evidence, track suspects or endangered persons, and locate cadavers. Canine abilities and shortcomings while working in the field and in non-laboratory conditions are examined, including the role of the handler and the possibility of contamination.
Abstract
This paper attempts to link commonalities found in previous research, done by different disciplines, and, in turn, inform future research on the better understanding of scent (particularly narcotics, explosive devices, and accelerants). Findings include a strongly documented history of dogs' ability to detect human scent wherein a dog's sense of smell is estimated to be 44 to 100,000 times greater than that of a human's. The history of scent discrimination is reviewed including development of methodologies in preserving scent, measuring of canine performance scent detection, and errors found in the training of the dogs and handler errors. Descriptions and study references are provided for the following topics: article or evidence search, tracking, explosives detection, narcotics detection, accelerant detection, and cadaver detection. This review concludes that environmental factors (temperature, humidity and wind) can influence the ability of the dog, as well as the nature of the scent as it is perceived in the relatively controlled environment of the laboratory as opposed to in the relatively uncontrolled environment of the field. 42 References