From Criminal Law Notebook
Qualifying Expert
Counsel will attempt to make two qualifications: the dogmaster in the field of interpreting the actions of the dog, and the dog in tracking human scents or drug scents.
| Areas of Questioning |
Comments
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- duration the dogmaster has been member of force / duration the dogmaster has been with dog team / duration the dogmaster has been with <dog>
- Dogmaster training course / duration / coverings tracking of human scents or drugs
- prior experience qualified giving evidence in court as dogmaster / prior testimony with current dog
- dog breed of <dog> / relevance of breed to tracking / ability of breed to track
- method of tracking / method of communicating
- whether training is needed / history of training of dog / whether with dogmaster or with others
- performance on simulated and real cases
- how dogmaster learns particular communication style of <dog>
- on-going training / frequency
- duration <dog> has been tracking / number of investigations used for
- success rate / false positives
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Subject to cross-examination, counsel will then request the dogmaster and dog be qualified as experts.
Methodology
| Areas of Questioning |
Comments
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- how dogmaster communicates to dog (types of signals)
- how dog communicates with dogmaster (types of signals)
- dogs ability to follow scents
- effects of environment (terrain, climate, obstacles, persons etc) / types of distractors
- possibility of dog losing scent / reasons
- possibility of dog catching scent of another track that crosses first track
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Tracking Evidence
| Areas of Questioning |
Comments
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- dogmaster responds to request for services / time of request
- time and location that the dog was deployed (use map)
- commands or signals communicated to the dog
- response from the dog / interpretation of the response
- route traveled during tracking (draw on map)
- whether there were other people discovered during track
- further signals given to dog during tracking
- further signals given from dog during tracking
- any item(s) or person(s) found / identification of person
- opinion of relevance of item or person found / signals from dog relevant to discovery
- what happened to item or person
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