By Terry Fleck
As an expert in K-9 legalities in the law enforcement industry, I am concerned about the on-going deceit and misrepresentation of some of our K-9 handlers. There have been, and continue to be, K-9 handlers that lie about the capabilities of their dog.
This article is controversial. In addition to being controversial, I am going to ask the honest K-9 handlers in the United States to put a stop to K-9 handlers that lie about their dog's capabilities. In other words, I'm asking our K-9 industry to police ourselves.
History of handlers that lie about the capabilities of their dog
John Preston
John Preston, recently deceased, was a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper. He handled a tracking dog. He had a K-9 that he claimed could do a six month old to a year old track in busy city environments (hard-surface). He was a contractor for numerous Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the 1980's.
Preston's false claims caused a lot of damage. His testimony put several people in prison for crimes they did not commit. DNA and other evidence has exonerated almost all of these suspects. The latest was just this year, 2009, where a man was exonerated after twenty-eight (28) years in prison.
No legal action was ever taken against Preston. However, most of the cases he was involved in have been or are under review.
Russell Ebersole
Russell Ebersole was a private civilian K-9 trainer / handler that also worked as a contractor for the Federal government. His twenty-three (23) K-9's were all explosive detector dogs contracted to protect various Federal buildings in the 2000's.
ATF did an independent investigation into Ebersole and his dogs. That investigation revealed Ebersole's dogs were not explosives detection trained, Ebersole's training records were false and Ebersole's certification records were false.
Ebersole was convicted in Federal Court of several charges and is currently in Federal prison.
Sandra Anderson
Sandra Anderson was a private civilian cadaver (human remains detection) dog handler. She was a contractor for numerous Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the 2000’s.
An investigation revealed that she was stealing human body remains, training aids, from various agencies and then planting them as evidence finds on actual cases. She was caught planting human remains evidence at an actual crime scene.
Anderson pled guilty to a plea bargain in Federal Court. She served her prison time and has been released. Most of the cases she was involved in have been or are under review.
Anderson is rumored to have gone back into private civilian cadaver (human remains detection) dog handling.
Keith Pickett
Keith Pickett is a deputy sheriff in the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, Texas who handles a tracking dog. The dog also conducts scent identification line ups, where a suspect is identified by the dog. He did and continues to do, many allied agency tracks and suspect identifications in the 2000’s.
Pickett is currently under investigation in 2009 for incorrectly identifying suspects, one of which was jailed. The investigation is currently on-going.
Even though there is a current on-going investigation into Pickett, many agencies in Texas still continue to use him and his dog today.
Others
There are other K-9 handlers, primarily in the civilian SAR (Search and Rescue) industry that are currently making false claims about what their dog can do. The claims vary, however I still hear claims today in 2009, such as:
When I challenge these SAR K-9 handlers making these claims and ask them to show me so I can actually see it, they all back down. As soon as I tell them the track must be real-world, and therefore, must be double blind, they all back down. (Double blind definition: "In the evaluation of a dog neither the assessor nor the handler knows the location of the substance / target, if present".)
Summary:Unfortunately, handlers that lie about the capabilities of their dog have been successful in fooling numerous Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies. In addition, when many of these agencies found out they had been hoodwinked, they refused to admit it. Even today in 2009, agencies are still using some of the handlers that are currently involved in an on-going investigation for incorrectly identifying suspects.
The law enforcement K-9 industry cannot afford to accept these K-9 handler liars. Failure to correct this issue taints all K-9 handlers nationwide. It is time to police our own. It is time to police ourselves before any more damage is done to our industry. I challenge every K-9 handler that if he sees or hears anything that is "to good to be true", investigate it to see if it is. That is your obligation and duty to our K-9 industry.