stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/jan/07...rt_will_hear_florida

For anyone not familiar with florida vs. jardines - an officer and his dog approached a suspected grow house, where the dog then sensed on marijuana. the issue at hand is whether or not the dog should have been allowed onto private property prior to the issuance of a warrant.

Issue: Whether a dog sniff at the front door of a suspected grow house by a trained narcotics detection dog is a Fourth Amendment search requiring probable cause?

Plain English Issue: Whether police violated the Fourth Amendment by taking a dog that had been trained to smell for drugs to the door of a house where they suspected that marijuana was being grown.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. They decided in people v. killo (1999?) that law enforcement may not use thermal imaging in order to provide probable cause for a warrant. The FLIR (thermal imaging) in and of itself requires a warrant, as it makes information available that the average public would not be capable of acquiring without special technology.

I think/hope they'll rule the same regarding drug dogs. While dog searches in airports, train/bus stations and traffic stops have been upheld without warrants, the fact that this particular situation took place on private property should be the deciding factor. The SCOTUS has always held that the home had an added expectation of privacy.

In other news... here is an article I found (printed last week) while I was searching for the info on Jardines:

stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/mar/26...t_decide_second_flor

Florida Supreme Court says: "We conclude that when a dog alerts, the fact that the dog has been trained and certified is simply not enough to establish probable cause to search the interior of the vehicle and the person."

The issue will now be taken to the US Supreme Court. Discrediting the use of drug-dogs in searches could be a huge step forward for patients nationwide!

Strip searches OK for minor offenses, Supreme Court says

www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/04/str...ok_for_minor_of.html

thanks for that post. I wasn't familiar with that case. That's incredibly discouraging. I thought the SCOTUS was in the business of protecting the liberties of the american people.

For he most part the SCOTUS does do a decent job of protecting our rights however once you are in LEO custody I feel that those guys may have a need to conduct thorough searches for their safety. The key here is what people are in jail and prison for. We all know that cannabis users and most other non-violent drug offenders do not belong in there. I don't have an issue with the strip search inside of jail. I do have a problem with why a lot of people are in jail and prison. Do people who are not trying to harm others really belong in jail with some of these deviants? When they do come out if they weren't criminals they are well on their way to being one with the pleasant influences they encountered in the US judicial system. Point blank, we need to fix our WHOLE system not just parts of it. It is all run by the wrong people with the wrong agendas. If you are not there to help then get the hell out lol.