US Supreme court on dog sniffing and privacy (drugs)

[OkToBeTakei]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/u-supreme-cour ... 03273.html

Interesting article.

Is dog sniffing at airports not the norm? Here it is routine?

[debrand]

I'm pretty certain it is the norm for public airports. However, I think that the issue is whether the police can approach private property with a drug sniffing dog. I would think that the same rules that apply about warrantless searches should apply to drug dogs.

Holy cow, I agree with Scalia.

Justice Antonin Scalia said it would be okay to let police use binoculars to look inside a home from afar if the blinds were left open, but not to walk right up if they saw nothing.

"Why isn't it the same thing with the dog?" Scalia asked. "It seems to me crucial that the police officer went up to the portion of the house as to which there is privacy."

Garre said police deserved the capacity to effectively combat the "serious epidemic" of so-called grow houses.

Justice Stephen Breyer, however, said many homeowners would resent having a dog walk up and down near their homes. "You're looking at the expectation of a reasonable homeowner," he said.

Some justices likened Franky to the thermal imagers that the Supreme Court said in 2001 could not be used to look inside homes, because they could uncover things that deserved privacy.

[OkToBeTakei]

It's an interesting debate. Privacy over preventing illegal drug growth /distribution. Think I would rather have a dog walk by my house than someone peer in with binoculars.

[BlackHawk]

I'm pretty certain it is the norm for public airports. However, I think that the issue is whether the police can approach private property with a drug sniffing dog. I would think that the same rules that apply about warrantless searches should apply to drug dogs.

Holy cow, I agree with Scalia.

You know, I flown in and out of a lot of major airports (LAX, SFO, SDF, IAH, Newark, etc...) and I've never seen an airport sniffing dog! I've always wanted to... but seriously never have. We've been pulled quite a bit for "extra screenings" and still never seen the dogs.

Overall I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's going to take a bit more research from me before I make a fully informed decision.