SAR 5

COURT ROOM TESTIMONY:

This is where any testimony outside the K-9 industry standard opens the door for the defense to challenge you. It should be noted that some standards vary from one organization to another, such as NASAR versus the state of California, etc.

As an example, a NASAR industry standard for K-9 team certification is a written exam for the handler. However, a NASAR certified K-9 handler testifies in court that he has never taken a written exam to certify as a K-9 handler.

This is an example of the handler or dog (team) not being within the NASAR SAR
K-9 industry standard. Testifying to anything outside the SAR K-9 industry standard will question you or your dog's reliability.

Other problems in courtroom testimony are:

Not admitting that you do not know the answer;
Assuming rather than knowing a fact;
Your personal biases and feelings swaying what your dog actually did;
Knowing the end result and influencing your dog to do that result;
Conflicting the SAR K-9 industry standard;
Trying to make your dog, or you, look good;

Potential areas of attack during court room testimony could mirror existing areas of attack in the contraband detector dog industry. The six areas where handlers are currently being challenged are:
1. The percentage of the dog’s reliability, including the dog’s “false response” rate;
2. Scenario based training, based upon discipline (such as tracking, area search, etc.), length of search, duration of search, etc;
3. Training on various quantities of odor. As an example, a human remains detection dog should train not only small amounts of odor, but a human body as well;
4. Training on “novel” (new or distracting) odors;
5. Doing negative (blank) searches where no odor is found. (Usually not a problem with a SAR dog, as most real searches are negative searches.);
6. Extinction (proofing) off of related odors, such as clothing, articles, etc.

What is the industry standard in some areas? There are several areas where there is no clear cut answer. Examples are:

How old of a track can a dog follow? What is the industry standard?
Can a dog determine if the person the dog is tracking walked, was carried or drove away? What is the industry standard?
Scent discrimination? Can a dog do scent line-ups? What is the industry standard?
Scent contamination? Can a person's scent be transferred to another person? What is the industry standard?
Minimum and maximum olfactory threshold of a dog? What is the industry standard?
POD (probability of detection) of a SAR K-9 team? What is the industry standard?

Animal behaviorists are assisting us in answering many of these questions. One of the leading research agencies is Auburn University's Canine and Detection Research Institute.

Appendix

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