ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Volume ...

Canine Substance DetectionJohn Long and his bomb-sniffing dog Coby check luggage as they go through a drill at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas, in February 2002. AP/WIDEWORLD PHOTOS.workplaces, airports and schools, to detect weapons, contraband,narcotic drugs, abused medication, alcohol, firearmsand explosives. The necessity for this is due, in part,to the increasing incidents of drug abuse and violenceamong young people and employees, along with a growingneed for increased security in schools and workplaces.Many schools and employers in the United States are nowengaging “sniffer dogs” to improve safety and assist inthe prevention of drug abuse. Supporters of this policyargue that the presence of these dogs, even if they do notimmediately turn up illegal substances, provides a powerfuldeterrent. There are also, however, a number of schoolprincipals and employers who are concerned about thismethod because they anticipate that the seizure of illegalsubstances would reflect badly on their institutions andcompanies. Nevertheless, the reality is that today narcoticdrugs, alcohol, and weapons are discovered in schoolsand in addition account for an astonishing 70 percent ofinjuries at work.Dogs trained to detect the scent of illegal substancesare useful as they can utilize their acute sense of smell topenetrate many hiding places which are inaccessible toother detection methods. A dog has about 200 millionsensitive cells in its nose, compared to about five millionor so in a human being, and therefore, a dog’s olfactorysystem is around 40 times more sensitive than that of ahuman. A dog’s sense of smell is made even keener by anorgan in the roof of the mouth that is not found in thehuman olfactory system and this enables it to “taste” asmell, amplifying a weak smell into a stronger one. Thissensitivity to, for example, the odor of butyric acid emittedin sweat, enables a dog to locate an object, such as a ball,belonging to its owner from several similar objects thrownby a number of different people. It also enables trackingdogs such as bloodhounds to pursue and keep pace with afugitive for up to 100 miles. Dogs also have the ability todistinguish individual odors when other strong smells arealso present. They can be trained to detect the odors ofheroin, marijuana and cocaine hidden in suitcases even inthe presence of strong smelling perfumes. Drug traffickersare constantly attempting to find more sophisticated waysof smuggling illegal drugs and the scenting abilities ofsniffer dogs often provide the only means of locating wellhiddennarcotics. Canine drug detectors have proved so164 Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security