January 1996

                        Police Practice
                      Detection Dog Lineup

                      By Guy J. Hargreaves

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Special Agent Hargreaves serves in the Office of             
International Training, Drug Enforcement Administration, 
Quantico, Virginia.
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In Colorado, a bloodhound named Yogi tracked the scent of a
kidnapped 5-year-old girl for 7 hours, traveling 14 miles from
the site of the abduction. While Yogi rested overnight, police
officers found the girl's body only a mile from where Yogi had
last followed her scent. Continuing on the trail the next day,
Yogi located the suspect in a nearby apartment complex.

Yogi's resume is impressive: 4 kidnapping cases (2 convictions, 2
pending prosecution), 45 homicides (sending 14 murderers to
prison), and 350 other cases (with only 1 acquittal). Thanks to a
sense of smell several thousand times greater than a human's,
Yogi and other dogs like him have been used to pursue fugitives,
locate escaped convicts, find missing persons, and detect drugs
and explosives.

Yet another use exists for the dog's keen sense of smell: 
Identifying suspects in a lineup. Yogi himself has identified at
least 25 suspects in lineups and has close to a 100-percent
conviction rate in the Colorado courts.

In the United States, scent identification lineups represent a
relatively new evidentiary tool.1 As such, law enforcement
officers wishing to use this technique should consult the local
prosecutor or their department's legal advisor for advice on the
legal principles surrounding this method of identification.
In Holland, however, the Dutch National Police have conducted
extensive research and testing to develop a procedure that would
withstand judicial scrutiny. The method, which uses steel pipes,
is designed to limit the handler's involvement in the process and
eliminate contact between the dog and the suspect. This article
describes the detection dog lineup technique developed and
refined by the Dutch police.2

THE DUTCH POLICE CANINE UNIT

Since 1919, members of the Dutch Police Canine Unit have trained
police dog handlers throughout the world. The unit began using
several forms of scent identification lineups in the 1960s and
developed the one described here in 1993.3

Today, the canine unit employs 15 full-time dog handlers and 15
Belgian Malinois for scent identification lineups. These clever
canines sniff out the suspect in an average of 40 percent of the
900 cases they work each year.

THE DETECTION DOG LINEUP METHOD

Several different methods exist for using detection dogs to
identify suspects. Dutch police dog handlers recommend the
following technique.

Step #1: Collecting Evidence From the Crime Scene

First, the criminal investigator locates evidence from the crime
scene. Any object that can hold a scent qualifies, including a
piece of clothing or a shotgun shell. Wearing gloves and using
gauze cloth and special tools to collect the evidence ensure that
nothing else leaves its scent on the object.

Next, the investigator places the evidence in a sterilized glass
jar or in a heat-sealed, tamper-proof bag. Properly sealed, the
evidence must be stored following appropriate chain-of-custody
guidelines to ensure its integrity for later use. The Dutch
police have stored scent evidence for up to 3 years, then used
detection dogs to identify suspects.

Step #2: Preparing for the Lineup

To conduct a proper lineup, police officials need six, 5-inch
stainless steel pipes. The pipes are boiled in water or cleaned
in a pressurized steam-cleaning machine, then placed in separate
glass containers, each with a different colored lid.

Next, investigators select five plainclothes detectives to
participate in the lineup with the subject. Even though the dogs
identify suspects by scent alone, lineup participants ideally
should be the same race and sex as the suspect. All participants,
including the suspect, must wash their hands with a neutral soap
to eliminate any foreign odor.

Each member of the lineup stands behind a glass jar, which
officers have placed on the floor of the lineup room. On command,
each person opens the glass jar, retrieves the pipe it contains,
holds the pipe for 5 minutes, then places the pipe back into the
container. Police officers supervise the entire process.

Again using gloves and special tools, police personnel retrieve
the pipes and place them on the floor of the lineup room, at
least 50 centimeters (about 20 inches) apart. By rolling a die,
officials determine where to place the suspect's pipe; they place
the remaining five at random. Each position on the floor
corresponds to a number, from 1 to 6. Police officials document
this information in writing.

Before the dog and its handler enter the lineup room, the person
who places the pipes on the floor leaves the room, removing the
glass containers. This ensures that no one influences the dog
prior to the lineup.

Step #3: Conducting the Lineup

With the lineup prepared, investigators bring in the crime scene
evidence and remove it from its tamper-proof container. The dog
handler and the detection dog enter the room, and the handler
uses forceps to hold the evidence over the dog's nose. Then, the
handler leaves, and the dog goes to work.

The dog sniffs the pipes until it finds the one whose scent
matches the crime scene evidence. Depending on its training, the
dog will indicate a match either by picking up the pipe in its
mouth or by sitting next to the pipe and barking.

As a control for the procedure, the police sometimes include a
second line of pipes. Because this line does not contain the
suspect's pipe, the dog should not identify any of them. Using a
control lineup ensures that the dog searches specifically for the
pipe that matches the crime scene evidence and does not feel
compelled to choose a pipe no matter what.

Ensuring Accurate Results

In Holland, the results from detection dog lineups are admissible
in court only in conjunction with other evidence linking the
suspect to the crime. Still, as with any evidence, using proper
procedures ensures the accuracy of the findings, and in turn,
their admissibility in court. These procedures include handling
evidence correctly, documenting the lineup process, and limiting
the dog handler's involvement in the proceedings. Finally, the
Dutch police allow the defendant's attorney to witness the lineup
if requested and often videotape the dog's scent identification.

Moreover, the Dutch police certify every dog for scent
identification lineups following a canine curriculum that
includes 1 year of intensive training and a series of tests
verifying the dog's ability to sniff out suspects. As important,
although law enforcement agencies can train the same breed of dog
for different specialities, such as drugs and explosives
detection or tracking and scent identification lineups,
individual dogs never should be cross-trained for more than one
specific duty. For example, a drug dog never should conduct scent
lineups because it might respond to the scent of drugs instead of
linking the crime scene evidence to the suspect.

CONCLUSION

Perpetrators of rapes, murders, kidnappings, and other violent
crimes frequently leave forensic evidence at crime scenes. Even
with high-tech equipment at their disposal, investigators cannot
solve every crime; after all, they are only human.
But, by using a detection dog lineup, police investigators can
collar these violent criminals. Whether tenaciously tracking a
lost child or putting the paw on a criminal, canines continue to
prove that they can be law enforcement's best friends.
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Endnotes

1 See Ramos v. State 496 So.2d 121 (Fla. 1986); United States v.
McNiece, 558 F. Supp. 612 (E.D.N.Y. 1983); and State v. Roscoe,
700 P.2d 1312 (Ariz. 1984), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 1094.

2 In June 1994, the author visited the Dutch Police Canine Unit's
training school in Holland, where he witnessed the talents of
these canines and gathered information for this article.

3 Canine units in Belgium, Hungary, and Germany also have
conducted research using the detection dog lineup technique
developed by the Dutch police.

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