Winning on the Witness Stand Every veteran officer can tell you about the time that he or she froze on the witness stand, or was ambushed by an off-the-wall unexpected question.  Even the most seasoned veteran occasionally is at a loss for words when testifying.  This article shares some of the uncommon, as well as common, questions that a detector dog handler is likely to face on the witness stand. Some defense lawyers work much like a small squid.  When threatened by a predator, the squid squirts a pool of black ink, and escapes in the confusion.  Famed criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz noted: "The defendant in a criminal trial wants to hide the truth because he's generally guilty.  The defense attorney's job is to make sure that the jury does not arrive at that truth."  If the defense lawyer can succeed in making the waters of truth murky with personal attacks on the officer, allegations of mishandled evidence or witnesses who swear that the defendant is a saint who loves everyone of God's creatures, the truth may not be found. Most defense lawyers take their job very seriously, and their role is critical to our judicial system.  Few adopt a "win at all costs" attitude and sacrifice their professional ethics, courtesy and common decency to win an acquittal.  Most defense lawyers play hardball, but only by the rules.  When faced with the occasional obstreperous defense lawyer, remember this quote from grandpa: "you never win a pissin' contest with a skunk." Guilty verdicts are won point by point, similar to a championship basketball game.  Single punch knockout guilty verdicts are rare.  Here are some hints to help you add points to the scoreboard and ensure a final victory. Much of the trial is controlled by others: the prosecutor, the judge, the defense counsel, and the jury.  One matter firmly within the control of the handler is the first impression that the judge and jury see as you walk into the room.  Salespeople and psychologist know that only a small portion, about seven per cent, of any oral communication is transmitted by the words spoken.  Voice intonation accounts for another thirty-five per cent.  The largest share, fifty-eight per cent, is communicated through body language.  As you walk into the room, show confidence and credibility through open body language and a professional face. Winning begins with case preparation.  Remember that cops solve crimes when someone tells them that a crime has been committed and whodunit.  But getting a conviction begins with an accurate and complete report.  Many uncomfortable common questions may be avoided through solid reporting practices.  The defense lawyer asks something like this: This is an official report? You completed it right after arresting my client? You've received training in writing police reports? You write complete, thorough, and accurate reports? You put all of the important details of a case into your report? Can you show me in your report the information that you just testified to? But you never mentioned the cat food on the floor of the back seat that may have affected your dog's sniff, did you Just as we all have brain cramps, sometimes you may have a brain blast and remember something that you left out, admit it.  It may help to explain that you put in everything that you think is important at the time.  You write reports to help you remember what happened and to give others a description, but you don't claim to record every occurrence.  "What trial court judge cannot attest that officers remember facts on the stand which they neglected to put in their police reports."  People v. Wilson, 182 Cal. App. 3d 742, 752 (1986). On the other hand, when, not if, you have a brain cramp, use the proper statement.  Telling the court "I don't know" allows the defense lawyer to argue that "the officer never knew."  If you tell the court "I don't recall" you leave an open door to ask to look at your notes, buy time, and hopefully alert the prosecutor that you may be in trouble.  Recover by finding the answer and confidently telling the jury. My years as a prosecutor taught me that detector dog handlers tend to be better-than-average witnesses.  Most have substantial court experience before becoming a handler.  Handler training often includes advanced search and seizure training and additional court room technique training.  The following questions assume a basic ability to write a report and tell the story in court.  These are fundamental questions for which every handler should have an answer. Foundation questions How long have you been in the K9 unit? How many dogs are in the unit? What are their various functions? What is your dog trained to do? How is a drug/bomb/etc. detector dog trained? What is the breed of your dog? How old is your dog? How long has your dog been working? Are you the dog's only handler? Did the dog have a previous handler? Why was this breed selected? What is the age of your dog? How many hours of training has your dog completed? How and when did your agency acquire this dog? Have you handled any other service dogs? How many?  What type?  What profiles? Training questions Are you a member of any K9 organizations? Which organization? What are their functions? When did you receive your training as a K9 handler? Where was the training conducted? How long was the training? Did your training include a manual or written materials? Do you have them available? What sort of subjects were covered in your handler training? Did you receive a certification? How long is the certification valid? Do you certify your dog through any agency or organization? How frequently? Are there criteria for certifying the dog? Who administers the certification testing? Are scores or grades given? How well did your dog perform? What types of odors is your dog trained to locate? How was the dog trained to locate these odors? Is an "odor" the same thing as a "scent?" How does your dog communicate that he/she has located a drug odor? How did you build this final response into the dog's behavior? What is the smallest quantity of drugs that you have use to train your dog? What is the largest amount of drugs that you have used to train your dog?  What is the reason for these limitations? Have you and your dog received additional training since the initial training? How much? Where? How do you train a drug detection dog? How often do you train with your dog? Under what conditions? Is your dog weak in particular areas and strong in others? What are your dog's weaknesses? Is your dog 100% successful? What is the distinction between a dog handler and a dog trainer? Would you be willing to bring your dog to court and demonstrate the dog's training to the jurors? Why not? Are distractions included in your dog training?  Why? What type of distractions? Is your dog's final response a strong indication that someone other than you could discern? During the course of training, has your dog ever failed to find concealed drugs?  Why? Is your philosophy of training superior to other agencies? Why don't you train like LAPD (or some other large agency)? Isn't it true that you believe that other agencies have inferior training approaches? Can your dog indicate/alert/give a final response on command? How do you reward your dog when it makes an indication? Have you ever rewarded your dog when it was wrong or performing improperly? Narcotic detector specific questions Is an "alert" the same thing as an "indication?" What is the "final response?" What is the difference between these terms? Have you formed an opinion about your dog's reliability in finding the odors of drugs? What is the basis for your opinion? What is your opinion? What is the largest amount of drugs that your dog has ever located? What is the smallest amount of drugs that your dog has ever located? How many times has your dog been used to search for drugs? Is your dog worked at any time other than searching from drugs? For what purpose, and how often? Are there any records kept of your dog's searches, and/or training? Who keeps the records? How are they kept? Where could I inspect the records? Does your dog ever have a bad day? How does your dog behave on a bad day? What kind of searches are challenging for your dog? What kind of searches give your dog problems? How does your dog react to distractions? What odors mask the odors of drugs? What is a "false alert," "false indication" or "false positive?" Has your dog ever given a final response in a location where no drugs were subsequently found? Wouldn;t this call into questions the ability of the dog? How would you explain this? What is residual odor? What is lingering odor? The actual scent molecule in heroin is acetic acid, isn't it? The actual scent molecule in cocaine is methyl benzoate, isn't it? Aren't these molecules found in other substances? How many times has your dog failed to find concealed drugs? Has your dog ever failed to give a final response in an area where drugs were found? How can you explain this? When your dog gives a final response, can you tell whether he/she has found marijuana, meth, or some other particular drug? How can you tell? Why don't you teach your dog to give a distinct final response to different drugs? How sensitive is a dog's nose? How many more times sensitive than a human nose? What accounts for the difference? What is a "useable" amount of drugs? Has you dog ever failed to give a complete final response, such as only scratching and not biting, or only barking and not scratching? How do you explain this? Do you stimulate the dog prior to deploying for a search? How do you stimulate the dog? Didn't you contaminate the car/boat/object when you touched the toy to it during stimulation? Couldn't the odor from the toy still be in the air when you commanded the dog to sniff the car? Isn't that a form of lingering odor? Pseudo-drug specific questions Is pseudo-cocaine a controlled substance? Does your dog find pseudo-cocaine? What would happen if I placed some pseudo-cocaine in the search area? What is the difference between pseudo-cocaine and real cocaine? Are you a chemist?  Do you have any training in chemistry? How many times has your dog given a final response to a pseudo-drug or any other substance that was not actually a controlled substance? Can we hide some pseudo-cocaine to see if your dog would find it and alert? Why do/don't you use pseudo-drugs to train your dog? Would you agree that the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates one of the nation's premier detector dog training programs? Are you aware that ICE uses pseudo-cocaine in their training program? Incident specific questions Is your dog currently in good health? Was he/she in good health on ______ (date)? Directing your attention to ______ were you on duty? What were your work hours that day? Were you and your narcotic dog ever requested to respond to a specific location, and if so by who? At what time? Did any officers meet you at the scene and advise you of the situation? Could you describe the scene? (the area to be searched) What did you do? Where did you start the dog in his/her search? Does the dog have the idea that the search is ready to begin? Do you give him/her a command? Was there anyone around you when you were searching with the dog? During the course of the search was the dog ever distracted from his/her search? While he was searching did he/she at any time give you an indication as to the presence of the scent of narcotics? What was his/her reaction or final response? At what specific location did the dog give you this final response? Did you or any of the other officers present, investigate this spot or location where the dog indicated? To your knowledge, what was the result or outcome of this indication and the subsequent investigation? There was property seized for forfeiture in this case, yet no drugs were found.  How can you explain that? Currency specific questions Before you had your dog sniff the currency, did you check the area for contamination? Is it possible that the currency became tainted with the odor of controlled substances after it was in the possession of the narcotics officers and before you conducted a sniff? When your dog indicated on this money, you had no idea of how much of it was tainted with drug odor, did you? Would it be possible to contaminate a single bill and then place it in a stack of 100 bills and your dog would give a final response to the entire stack? Has your dog learned the smell of currency, like the other drugs it has learned? On how many occasions has your dog not given a final response to currency? Do your training records show how many times the dog has sniffed currency and how many times your dog has given a final response to currency? How do you know that the dog did not give a final response to the odor of currency? Isn't it true that a large portion of currency in circulation is tainted with the odors of drugs? Are you aware of published scientific studies showing that a majority of $20.00 bills in California are tainted with drug residue? How many times has your dog given a final response to currency that has no drug odor on it? Isn't it true that your dog could give a final response to currency that became tainted weeks before the sniff? How is it that your dog gave a final response to this currency, yet you say that one gram is the threshold for an indication? Do you believe that every large quantity of currency is drug-tainted? Why or why not? Would you agree that it is best to conduct a sniff is the closest possible proximity to the seizure of currency or other items? Why was there a delay in this case? Prior to the sniff, was the money counted? Was a money-counting machine used? Could the money be contaminated while in police custody, prior to the sniff? If one of the officers had touched the drugs and then the money, wouldn't that invalidate the results of your dog's sniff? Do you have an opinion on how much time elapsed between when your dog sniffed the currency and alerted and when the currency was actually exposed, if ever, to controlled substances? Thanks to the many handlers who contributed their favorite (or least favorite) courtroom questions and experiences, and particularly to those at the various International Police K9 Conference Seminars and California Narcotic Canine Association conferences who shared their courtroom experiences with the author.