NCJ Number
176770
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 46 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1998 Pages: 22-25
Date Published
1998
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Cases in which police dogs successfully identified suspects point to the benefits of obtaining a scent sample as early as possible at a crime scene, because scent is fragile under most conditions.
Abstract
Bloodhound testimony is admissible in 45 States, with corroborative evidence. A California murder case involved a bloodhound's identification of scent extracted from the victim's shirt, preserved for 9 months in an evidence freezer. Forensic technicians used a vacuum device to draw out the scent and concentrate it onto a sterile gauze pad. Bill Tolhurst of the Niagara County (N.Y.) Sheriffs Department developed what he called a scent sleeve, which was a plastic pail with the scent material protected so that the dog could not reach it. Tolhurst also developed the Big T Trainer, an air bottle that contains scent material and that fresh air can be blown through to move the scent. Dogs trained with this device can identify drugs from the slip- stream of trucks. Tolhurst's new Scent Transfer Unit draws the scent to a sterile gauze pad that can be protected and stored indefinitely in a scent bank. Cases in New York and California demonstrate the use of these scent pads. The Niagara County Sheriffs Department now collects scent at every major crime scene and stores it in a scent bank. Tolhurst believes that scent should be collected at every crime scene, although the $595 cost of the STU-100 Scent Transfer Unit could be a problem for a small police agency. Photographs