Are Terrorist Threats Changing Constitutional Parameters of Police Behavior? Considering an Incident at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport

An opinion of a federal magistrate shows that narcotics detection dogs at airport screening must be deployed before a seizure of a passenger’s carry-on luggage has become unlawful under the Fourth Amendment. The facts of the case also show something about how TSA and airport police hand off cases to each other during screening procedures. Conducting a dog sniff during an initial search of the luggage at an inspection table would have been legal...

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Navy Oversight of Canine Operations Needs To Improve: Hazings in Bahrain

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Using a Bite-and-Hold Trained Dog for Search and Rescue Leads to Lawsuit

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The Dogs of the Night Watch

In the urban centers of northern Europe in the Renaissance, a lowly and lonely profession was that of the night watchman. Those wandering the dark streets at night could often be presumed to be up to no good and night watchmen were usually armed against the dangers. It is therefore not surprising that night watchmen would acquire dogs to add the animals' senses to their own, as well as to combine the jaws of dogs with the weapons of their arsenels....

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Canine Remote Explosive Scent Tracing, Long Used in Europe for Screening Air Cargo, Continues to Be Tested in U.S.

Federal law mandates searching checked luggage, which may be done by canine teams, certain equipment, and other means, but luggage is not the only thing that goes into the hold of a plane. Air cargo also goes there. As recent events have made clear, cargo may not be screened as effectively as luggage. Although Congressional and Administrative policy has been to increase the number of explosives detection canine teams at U.S. airports, one of the...

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Dispute Over $44 Million Contract Shows War Dogs Are Now Big Business

Contracts for providing the military with explosives, narcotics, and cadaver detection dogs, as well as patrol and sentry dogs, are becoming lucrative, with one contract reaching $44 million and another, just a month ago, $34 million, both going to the same contractor. With success comes competition, however, and with competition come disputes, with disputes come lawsuits, and lawsuits mean work for lawyers, unquestionably a good thing. (One must...

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