why is a police dog a law officer when I kick it in the head, but not when it searches my car illegally?

Previous court decisions have decided that when a trained dog performs a "sniff" around someone's car, it is not a search. Therefore, it can't be an illegal search.

If a police officer stops you for a simple traffic violation, he can perform a "sniff" on the outside of your vehicle with his K9. This is not a search. The officer does not need your permission, a warrant, or even any particular level of suspicion, as far as the courts are concerned.

If, while performing a sniff on the outside of your vehicle, the dog alerts for the presence of contraband, the officer will then have Probable Cause to search both you and your vehicle. He can allow the dog to sniff the inside of your vehicle, he can search it himself, he can call other officers over there to search it, or all of the above.

Court precedence has determined that a trained K9 that hits on something that it has sniffed constitutes Probable Cause (PC). An officer needs to be able to articulate PC in order to search a vehicle or home without a warrant. Since the officer at that point would have PC to search your vehicle, the search cannot be illegal.

The only way a K9 sniff on a vehicle could be considered illegal is if an officer pulls you over for no reason, and then has a K9 perform a sniff, or if he has the dog perform its first sniff while inside of the vehicle.

And, YES, the dog is still a law officer while it legally sniffs or searches your car, just as is the handler.

El Chistoso

I am not sure what you said is a fact. As written, it is not factual.

A police dog utilized under the direction of an officer cannot illegally search a car or home. The dog is just a tool used by the officer to perform law enforcement duties so laws regarding search & seizure apply.

As for the dog being covered against force or battery, those laws were passed to protect the dog, of course. The dogs are trained to stop biting when the pursued suspect stops resisting. So the dog has the same protective coverage as officers.

Tell us in more detail about the illegal search. How was it illegal? How did you come into contact with the officer & the dog? What was the officer (& dog) investigating? What had the officers said & what had been your response? At what point during the contact did the officer dog "search" the car? You do understand a walk-by sniff is not a search, right?

How did the dog search your car illegally? This question is out with the Supreme Court. They granted that free air searches are legal...So if the dog walks around your car without going into your car then the search is not illegal. Also an officer can look into your car w/ out going into or breaching the threshold of your car. If an officer can smell the odor of an illegal substance from outside the vehicle that officer now has probable cause to enter the vehicle and search. Having PC is not an illegal search. The officer gained PC from outside of the vehicle legally. By the way try and kick one of our dogs. They are always hungry and always p*ss*d. We don't have those "sniffy" only dogs. Our dogs do it all...

Let us go now, you and I . . . .

I understand your question, though stated in somewhat provocative terms, but your premise is incorrect.

1) A dog sniffing your car from the outside is NOT a search, it is no different from a police officer seeing something in plain view, and therefore if evidence is located in that way there is no illegal search.

2) If the dog, at the police direction, did something else, for example, jumping into the car to drag out everything under the front seat without probable cause, that would be an illegal search attributable to the police.

a polioce dog goes through training the same as a human and it also has a badge a id card and a dsn/ badge number and as far as illegaly searching your car if it searched the outside of your car and gave a positive indication that is not illegal as you do not own the air coming out of your cas but i would need more info to give you a better answer

I get what you're saying, like it would be the same as "assaulting an officer" if you did something to it, but its not an "officer" when it sniffs out drugs thereby creating the "probable cause" which wouldn't have otherwise existed.

Humm... good question. I don't know.

If you are really stupid enough to kick a police dog in the head, you deserve whatever happens to you.

Nice logic.

I had a similar thought when it came to an 'officer' (the dog) using more force than necessary.

A cop can't put me in a choke hold, but a dog can bite my face off.

("my" isused as a reference, never been bit by a police dog)

Why would you kick a dog in the head?

if your not doing anything illegal then a search is not against the law