The citizenry was up in arms. Finally, a possible suspect was developed and a scent pad collected. Investigators went back into the neighborhood where five burglaries had been committed a few days before. The bloodhound identified four of the five cases with the scent of the suspect. The dog even led them down a trail where the guy went down through a greenbelt to a clump of trees where he relieved himself.
Scent is delicate.
You can't see it, dye it, smell it, photograph it, lift it like a fingerprint, or send it to the lab for analysis. Unless people are dog oriented, they just don't think about scent. Harris says he hasn't found anything yet that he can't get scent from. With concern over drive-by shootings, Harris adds to the list that he had gotten scent from spent shell casings. It's likely that scent can identify a perpetrator, but even if no suspect is developed right away, gauge pads are not expensive.