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Arson Detection K9 & the law
While surfing one of my cop sites i came to an article questioning the use of arson detection K9's. The dispute comes from a dog alerting on a subjects clothing and carpet in his vehicle which resulted in an arrest and the actual testing of the garments and carpet comming 3 months later and the lab found nothing.
We all know the dog is a tool and whatever they find MUST be confirmed by labratory analysis to stand up in court.
In this case the court sought to make "the dog alerting" as evidence enough for a conviction
The article goes on to quote NFPA921 as the standard and as i have stated in past posts that it is my belief that every fire investigator should be VERY aware of 921 because the legal community uses it to impeach the work of fire investigators so it is worth yout time to review and modify your methods of investigation
the specific case law for this post is US v. Myers and US v. Hebshie
please be careful and use the best tool we have for investigation...our brain
be safe
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Richard Embrey on
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In Wyoming, we use a accelerant detection dog. Should the dog alert us to the presence of an accelerant, samples are taken and documented in accordance with NFPA 921 and state protocols. No one is arrested at that time, but they are placed at the top of the persons of interest list. If the samples come back positive, then criminal investigation is initiated as we still have to place an individual at the scene and we still need to determine if they had motive. Maybe I've been lucky or maybe my firesetter has a guilt complex when the dog has alerted to the presence of an accelerant on clothing or other materials, the individual confesses or they wait and take their day in court and are convicted due to proper evidence collection. I agree the dog is a great tool for suspicous fires that may involve accelerants, but it's not 100% reliable as there are other compounds that can cause a false indication. K9 alerts need to be backed by lab analysis or else you are counting your chickens before they hatch.
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