NE2: K9 Unit Reform Act (Law)

[cinyc]

K9 Unit Reform Act

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Sponsor: Governor Dallasfan65

Debate on this bill will remain open for 72 hours, or until around 5:00PM on Thursday, April 10, unless modified or extended.  The sponsor, Gov. Dallasfan65, is encouraged to speak on behalf of the bill within the next 36 hours.  If he does not, the bill will be tabled, as there is other pending legislation in the queue.

The floor is open for debate.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

Drug dogs are scary things.

Firstly, we've liberalized our laws on narcotics quite a bit in Atlasia. However, undoubtedly there's still prosecution for those who do so illegally (much in the way that moonshining is still illegal in the United States.) Naturally, it would go to follow that law enforcement officers probably use "drug dogs" as they do in real life.

What's wrong with this?

Drug dogs are just as apt to be wrong as they are right. For instance:

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link

There's obviously a degree of racial profiling and profiling in general. And despite the obvious fallibility of these canine inspectors, an alert by these dogs is considered "probable cause" to be searched, as the United States Supreme Court ruled in Illinois vs Caballes. Secondly, what qualifies as an alert? Pretty much whatever the police officer feels like.

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To me, this is an obvious violation of civil liberties, and gives officers more leeway for warrantless searches.

Another reason why we ought to pass this, is that narcotics-detection dogs can be expensive. So, I think if we outlaw our law enforcement agencies from using these dogs, they can devote more of their financial resources to things that actually stop crime.

[Napoleon]

Enslaving dogs and harassing humans are unethical and immoral practices so I support this bill.

[SWE]

Enslaving dogs and harassing humans are unethical and immoral practices so I support this bill.

As do I

[cinyc]

I don't support taking away legitimate tools from law enforcement.  A properly trained narcotics dog is an asset to any police force.

There also are legitimate non-narcotics reasons to keep a K9 unit, including in tracking down fleeing suspects and crowd control.  So just limiting dogs to search and rescue arguably excludes dogs from these legitimate other uses.

[sentinel]

Dallasfan65 brings up some good points -- Speaker Cinyc, I agree with what you said but the Governor did allow for dogs to still be used in other capacities.

Suggested Amendment
1)   The use of narcotics-detection dogs by Northeastern law enforcement agencies is hereby banned in the Northeast. This does not prohibit other legal police activity involving dogs.
2)   Narcotics-detection dogs may be adopted by individuals trained to work with police dogs including but not limited to retired or former police officers and military officials.
3)   This legislation shall go into effect on January 1st, 2015.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

That seems fair, sirnick, so long as we can get them prohibited from being used for narcotics-detection purposes. Amendment is friendly.

[Deus Naturae]

I don't support taking away legitimate tools from law enforcement.  A properly trained narcotics dog is an asset to any police force.

The question is, can dogs be trained to the point where they can consistently sniff out illegal drugs? The evidence provided by Governor Dallasfan would suggest that the answer is no. Continuing to utilize an ineffective tool just seems like bad policy, regardless of where one stands on illegal narcotics.

That brings to mind another question: Currently, are there even narcotics that are illegal to possess in Atlasia?

[cinyc]

I don't support taking away legitimate tools from law enforcement.  A properly trained narcotics dog is an asset to any police force.

The question is, can dogs be trained to the point where they can consistently sniff out illegal drugs? The evidence provided by Governor Dallasfan would suggest that the answer is no. Continuing to utilize an ineffective tool just seems like bad policy, regardless of where one stands on illegal narcotics.

Yes, they can consistently sniff out illegal drugs.  According to a Polish police study, drug dogs were effective in finding hidden drugs 88% of the time, giving false positives only 5% of the time.  Even in the toughest environments, like outdoor or car searches, they were more likely than not to find the drugs. 

I don't like to take legitimate tools away from law enforcement.  This isn't like a polygraph, which can be easily fooled.  A dog smells what he smells.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

I don't support taking away legitimate tools from law enforcement.  A properly trained narcotics dog is an asset to any police force.

The question is, can dogs be trained to the point where they can consistently sniff out illegal drugs? The evidence provided by Governor Dallasfan would suggest that the answer is no. Continuing to utilize an ineffective tool just seems like bad policy, regardless of where one stands on illegal narcotics.

That brings to mind another question: Currently, are there even narcotics that are illegal to possess in Atlasia?

Most of everything has been decriminalized in Atlasia. However, even in the United States, where alcohol prohibition has been lifted for nearly a century, there's still prosecution of illegal moonshining. I don't think it's a big leap of faith to suggest that law enforcement is still cracking down on substances that have only been decriminalized, or that such dogs are still in the employ of law enforcement for such purposes.

I think cinyc does raise a good point that such dogs may also be trained for other purposes, such as criminal pursuit or rescue, so Sirnick's amendment may be appropriate here.

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I'd like to take note that the dogs were most effective in detecting the most liberalized substance (marijuana) in the study, but I digress, since training methods may have adjusted accordingly.

But how about when the handlers aren't in on the gig?

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link

Surely a police agency would have some vested interest in trying to demonstrate that their own investigation methods work. I'd like to go with something with more independent scrutiny.

At best, an aggregate of cinyc's study and the ones that I've posted would indicate that a dog's effectiveness is "meh." Surely "meh" isn't muster for probable cause to search an entire person's person, or vehicle?

[Napoleon]

I've heard of officers using the dogs to create an excuse to search a vehicle when in fact no drugs were detected.

[sentinel]

I think the study with the "false sweep" is a bad case study for our purposes. Its a psychological study not a public policy study. They were told there are drugs in that room, and probably felt like if they were not finding them then they were doing something wrong.

In real life, 99% of the people who walk by you don't have drugs and you actively know that.

[cinyc]

The debate period is now over.  It is time to vote on the bill, as amended:

K9 Unit Reform Act

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This vote shall remain open for the earlier of 48 hours or when all Representatives have voted.

[cinyc]

Nay

[SWE]

Aye

[Napoleon]

Aye

[sentinel]

Aye

[Deus Naturae]

Aye

[cinyc]

By a 4-1 vote, the bill passes and goes to the governor's desk for his signature or veto.

[cinyc]

Governor Dallasfan65 has signed this bill into law.