LOCAL AGENCIES UNSURE OF RULING ON DRUG DOGS

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing police officers to
employ drug-sniffing dogs for routine traffic stops without the
driver's consent has Fairbanks-area law enforcement agencies wondering
how it will affect them.

Local agencies, however, say they have no immediate plans to exercise
the new power.

A privacy clause in the Alaska Constitution could negate it, said some
law enforcement officers, attorneys and civil rights advocates.

"Why not get a search warrant?" said Keith Mallard, an Alaska State
Trooper lieutenant who heads the agency's K-9 program. "Going through
that extra step is not that big of a deal."

The court's decision was brought on by Roy Caballes, who was stopped
by Illinois police in 1998, for driving 6 mph over the speed limit,
reported The Associated Press. Although Caballes lawfully produced his
driver's license, troopers brought over a drug-sniffing dog after
noticing air freshener in the car and noting Caballes appeared nervous.

The dog indicated drugs were in the trunk, and police searched it
without Caballes' permission. They found $250,000 worth of marijuana,
and Caballes was convicted of drug trafficking, the AP reported.

The verdict was thrown out by the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled
the search was improper because police had no particular reason to
suspect Caballes had drugs.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision Jan. 24 saying that the
search was lawful.

The decision is a plus for law enforcement, said Paul Harris, director
of the Fairbanks Police Department.

"It allows us a little more latitude using a tool that we have, the
dogs, if we have a reasonable suspicion that drugs are present,"
Harris said.

But he said he will have to see how the power functions under state
law before exercising it here.

Terry Vrabec, chief at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Police
Department, agreed. The department has the only state-certified
drug-sniffing dog in the area, a 6-year-old Belgian malinois named
Briko.

"We can secure or impound a vehicle while applying for a search
warrant," Vrabec said.

But impounding a vehicle doesn't mean a search warrant is a sure
thing. Judges want to know that a drug-sniffing dog has a good track
record before approving a search warrant, according to Mallard.

Law enforcement agencies are smart to look at the new power carefully,
agreed local defense attorney Bill Satterberg and June
Pinnell-Stephens, a privacy advocate sitting on the Board of Directors
for the Alaska Civil Liberties Union.

"Why endanger a case when they can get the proper paperwork and know
that their material will stand up in court?" Pinnell-Stephens said.