ABSTRACT
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
—Albert Einstein
Trooper Daniel Holt’s Story Traffic stops are probably the most common occasion for police officers to use drug dogs. The courts have consistently ruled that using a trained and certified dog and handler to sniff the exterior of a lawfully stopped vehicle is not considered a search under the Fourth Amendment. The underlying premise to these rulings is that no reasonable expectation of privacy exists in the air around a vehicle. Of course, “running the dog” on a vehicle must be done expeditiously within a reasonable time after stopping the vehicle. What determines reasonableness will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the stop. Even with limitations, canines are a powerful tool in the fight against illegal drugs.
