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Canada - Drug-sniffing dog searches OK on 'reasonable' grounds

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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Drug-sniffing dog searches OK on 'reasonable' grounds
CBC
September 27th, 2013

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that police can deploy drug-detecting sniffer dogs for warrant-less searches against suspects, but only with "reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts" of criminality.

The decisions mean that the Supreme Court agrees that the existing threshold should remain in place with regard to reasonable suspicion for police to conduct random public searches of people with drug-sniffing dogs.

Legal experts had been monitoring two decisions today regarding the use of drug-sniffing dogs, believing it would clarify what constitutes "reasonable suspicion" for when the animals can be called forth. The outcomes would decide whether police in both cases had breached the two men's charter rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

In a ruling today for one of the men, Benjamin MacKenzie, the Supreme Court stated: "The deployment of a dog trained to detect illegal drugs using its sense of smell is a search that may be carried out without prior judicial authorization where the police have a reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts that evidence of an offence will be discovered."

In 2006, MacKenzie, who is from Saskatchewan, was found with 14 kilograms of marijuana in his car trunk. But he was searched only after police pulled him over for driving just two kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit and deciding his eyes looked red. An initial police search came up with nothing before they brought in the sniffer dogs.
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Read the full story here.

I'm really sad to see this. Two men who were originally acquitted now have to serve time, and the police will now have an easier time getting away with legally-iffy stop-and-searches.

It's unfortunate that prosecutors are allowed to appeal not-guilty verdicts in the first place.
 
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In a ruling today for one of the men, Benjamin MacKenzie, the Supreme Court stated: "The deployment of a dog trained to detect illegal drugs using its sense of smell is a search that may be carried out without prior judicial authorization where the police have a reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts that evidence of an offence will be discovered."
Click to expand...

In layman's talk, now the cops need only bring a dog in to authorize a warrantless search. Oh boy.
 
Nothing ever changes in Canada. I was a victim of an illegal search when the cop said he smelled it, even though the weed never left the baggie. Build a trap or don't transport it.
 
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