Drug-sniffing dogs are taught to give the same response no matter what illegal drug they discover.
The dogs also can’t differentiate between legal and illegal amounts. If a dog hits on marijuana, you don’t know whether the canine is altering to one ounce or many pounds.
In addition, it’s not easy to train the canines to unlearn the smell of marijuana.
Patrolling with the animals currently used to sniff out drugs runs the risk of civil rights violations and lawsuits. The issue is that a dog could be hitting on a legal quantity of marijuana rather than some illegal substance.
Because of these changes, canines alone may no longer be enough to establish probable cause. Officers will have to have additional evidence to justify a search.
These changing laws can create may civil rights lawsuits (when people are wrongfully seized and searched) and suppression issues in criminal cases, which frequently can result in a car dismissal.
If you need a civil rights attorney or a criminal defense attorney, you can contact McGraw Law & Associates at: (575) 323-1529
Las Cruces, New Mexico
