We should be using more explosives-sniffing dogs rather than body scanners at airports

[coti]

For a number of reasons.

We already use dogs at airports, but we should be using a lot more of them. I know they're around but I've never been personally approached by a dog while in an airport security line. I think every air passenger should be getting some sniffs.

For one, dogs are less intrusive than the body scanners. Their use in law enforcement has already been litigated for constitutionality. They've been found to be relatively uninvasive, and their use guidelines, whatever they may be, are known. It seems to me people would be more supportive of increasing use of dogs than screening a vague picture of their naked body.

Secondly, from what I know of dogs, they're extremely effective in detecting explosives and other substances, likely much more effective than the body scanners. Terrorists know this too. I would think the high-visibility presence of dogs at security lines would be an outstanding deterrent to anyone thinking about bringing a bomb on a plane. They don't have to be mean-looking dogs, either- a lab with floppy ears and a wagging tail would detect bombs just as well as a German Shepherd. Some people might be allergic to or nervous around them, but they could always talk to security about it and find another way. With the right training for the dogs those drawbacks should be minimal anyway. Actually, in many ways the dogs might make passengers less anxious, especially with the right dogs. Between the explosives-sniffing dogs, metal detectors and luggage screening, planes could be pretty safe.

Finally, I would guess that adding two or three dogs to a security checkpoint rather than a body scanner would be cheaper and take less passenger time for security. This article says that the body scanners cost between $150K and $200K each: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/european-union/100120/airport-security-body-scanner . Although dogs require extensive training (about 600 hours' worth, according to this organization: http://www.bombdogdetection.com/bomb-dog-training.html ), I can't imagine even two or three of these dogs would cost more than $100,000. Further, walking a dog along a line of passengers already waiting for security screening would be much more time efficient than doing a full-body scan of each and every passenger.


Anyway, just my two cents on the subject.

[wuushew]

1. There are liability and phobia issues associated with dogs as well

man should use technology instead of enslaving animals for his needs.

[havocmom]

5. The technology misses a lot of dangerous substances

And I suggest K9 partners are hardly slaves. They are well treated partners in law enforcement.

[Zoeisright]

7. Those dogs aren't 'enslaved'.

Have you ever watched one in action? They absolutely love what they do. And they are treated like members of the family, far better than many dogs in this country.

[wuushew]

11. are you telepathic? You are projecting irrelevant feelings onto a domesticated animal

I'm sorry but domestication is a form of slavery.

Law and the evidence used should always be objective. I don't view people being searched in the drug war after being yelped at by a dog and his flawed handler as a great triumph. I want scientific data such as you generated an air reading of X parts per million of substance X after passing through a scanner. While I doubt anyone on this forum is a criminal the possiblity of defending yourself(and your rights) against false positives is an important issue.

Likewise if I want to know the air temperature I use a thermometer instead of asking people how hot or cold it is. A barometer is more useful than asking my grandmother how her eyes or bones "feel".

[HelenWheels]

2. I had a dog sniff me

It was in the Trinidad airport. And it wasn't a fierce dog, it was a little beagle.

[coti]

12. Did it find any "contraband?"

;)

[havocmom]

3. Body scanners make more $$ for some corporations

That seems to be the dominate criteria for ANYTHING anymore.

Dogs take training and handlers. Those are human jobs. Can't be spending money on actual HUMAN jobs. Humans pay taxes on wages. Can't have THAT. Human handlers of dogs might lower stress at airports. Handlers are well trained professionals and they tend not to abuse their authority. Low wage TSA employees looking at scanners raise stress at airports. Low wage, little training, a bit of authority over others... well we have all heard stories of outrageous abuse of that bit of authority.

I agree that using more dogs and less gadgets of questionable reliability makes more sense. But it doesn't seem to be about making sense or even making air travel safer. It's part of the show, and the more people you piss off with the lowest personnel costs possible, the better for the purveyors of terra terra terra as a diversion from the economic attacks we are under from within.

[coti]

14. There's definitely money to be made either way. nt

[NoNothing]

4. You'd need a lot of dogs

While dogs are fantastic at hunting down drugs and explosives, they cannot really work long continuous shifts like you suggest, and if they go long periods without, in their mind, "success," they will pretty quickly lose interest and can even become depressed.

[coti]

6. Yeah, that's why I was thinking two or three per checkpoint.

Can a dog work an eight-hour shift?

A handler could keep a specimen with some kind of explosive residue on it for a "hit" while on break if that would help keep the dog's interest.

[NoNothing]

9. I don't think a dog could work an eight hour shift

I think you'd be lucky to get an hour of focused detection out of them. Remember dogs have a brain like a toddler with ADD. They can be very focused, but usually only for short periods of time.

[coti]

10. You really could find a way to work it, though.

Have a couple of them on hand and switch them out every hour, take the one on break on a walk, have play time with the other dogs, etc.

[Javaman]

8. Dogs and sniffing crotches goes hand in hand...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[daa]

13. RADIATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eom