• queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    It’s a fact that they have an extremely high false-positive rate. Whether that’s intentional or not doesn’t change the fact that it serves law enforcement’s interests.

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I suppose that’s true, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t smell anything. Your conclusion may be correct, but your initial claim isn’t, and that’s something I’m seeing on lemmy more than I’d like to.

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        He didn’t say they don’t smell anything. He said they’re trained to respond to their handler. What he said is true. Even if it’s not what they’re intentionally training, it is a verifiable fact that most k9s respond more to their handlers body language than to any actual substance they’re smelling.

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Of course K9’s aren’t trained to actually smell anything

          He didn’t say they don’t smell anything

          Anyways, I wasn’t able to find data on police K9 units. I found this which has some good data with references further down the page, but it’s pretty far from a field environment. Do you have a study (“verifiable fact”) that has this data?

          • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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            1 month ago

            they are not trained to smell

            but that doesn’t mean they don’t smell anything

            These are two different statements saying different things. Yes, police dogs often have noses that function. No, police dogs often do not require their noses in order to get the response the handler is wanting.

            And I was specifically referring to US k9s, but here are polish dogs. Their efficacy in cars, which is what I was referring to although did not explicitly state, is only 57%. Im still looking at other sources to find a more reliable, hopefully first hand, study.

            • Wrufieotnak@feddit.org
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              1 month ago

              The question wasn’t about the efficacy of dogs but about the “only respond to handler” part and you didn’t provide a source for that.

              Edit: another comment provided a study for that.