Many police departments around the world use K-9 units, also called sniffer dogs, to help law enforcement find illegal drugs in cars. This often happens when people get pulled over for a traffic stop and are suspected of having drugs in the vehicle. However, many people question how reliable K-9 units are at detecting drugs in people’s cars.

K-9 units aren’t as reliable as people think at being sniffer dogs

K-9 units are reasonably common aids to help law enforcement find drugs in people’s cars. This often happens when people are pulled over, and the police suspect them of possessing illegal substances. However, they are less accurate than most people assume, given how trusted sniffer dogs are. According to Pumphrey Law, these dogs are only correct about 44 percent of the time, making the possibility of a false positive detection likely. 

Readers should also note that some surveys report higher findings of sniffer dogs being wrong. Some estimates have put the number above 50 percent, whereas others report even higher instances of false positives. It’s hard to say exactly how many police departments use dogs. However, they are relatively widespread as law enforcement agencies have used them since the 1870s. 

If a drug dog signals it has detected illegal substances during a traffic stop, police will then search your car. Readers should note that even false positives from K-9 units sometimes lead to arrests. This is usually the case if police find illegal items other than drugs in the vehicle.

Why aren’t drug dogs more accurate?

Knowing that K-9 units are usually more wrong than right causes people to ask questions. For starters, why aren’t sniffer dogs more accurate? According to NPR, dog experts believe it’s because of the handlers and not so much the dogs themselves. It’s believed that police officers handling the dogs can unintentionally cause them to signal that they detect drugs. 

So, how does this happen? The experts who were questioned about the false positives think it could be due to the dogs being led too slowly around the car when people are pulled over. Some also believe that taking sniffer dogs around a vehicle too many times will trigger them to signal that they have found something. 

There have been more calls in recent years for police departments to stop using sniffer dogs. Much of the discussion is surrounding ending their use at schools and festivals, but many experts feel that K-9 units are better at finding missing people instead of drugs.