Fraud on the Courts — No Bones About It! - A Treat for Prosecutors (and Police K-9’s)

K-9 alerts are unreliable and should not constitute probable cause to conduct a search of a vehicle. Even when police do not find any drugs, the drug-detection dog’s alert results in the dog receiving a treat. When the police claim a drug-detection dog’s alert was valid, defense counsel should seek discovery regarding the dog and its history, the handler, the training program, the field history, and the method used to reward the dog.