RCMP misled the public: "Police Dog" vs Cadaver Dog
Summary
Following the December 2020 search at 827 Nanaimo Lakes Road, RCMP investigators misled the public by implying that the dog used during the search would have been able to locate Lisa's remains when in reality it lacked the necessary training.
Details
After the RCMP's December 2020 search of the property at 827 Nanaimo Lakes Road, RCMP investigators told the media the search was related to Lisa's case, and said new technology
was used including a police dog and Ground Penetrating Radar.
This statement could be considered to be misleading.
Police Dogs
RCMP police dogs — formally known as Police Service Dogs (PSDs) — are all German Shepherds, bred internally by the RCMP, from one of 18 bitches in Saskatchewan.[1] Training takes place at the RCMP's Police Dog Service Training Centre (PDSTC)[2] located in Innisfail, Alberta.[3]
Cadaver Dogs
Training of a Cadaver Dog can take years.[5]
There are not many Cadaver dogs in Canada; the first was "Doc" in Nova Scotia, who in 2016 completed training by the use of actual human tissue[4][6]
Doc, who also has training and experience with locating explosives, was (as of 2016) the RCMP's first and only cadaver dog, trained to help with older missing persons cases
and was currently working with RCMP across Atlantic Canada.
[7]
Human Remains detection training
Any dog, including Police Services Dogs, can attend "add-on" human remains detection training in seminar-style courses ranging in duration from 8 hours[8] to one week.[9]
Training is usually completed by the use of artificial training material such as commercially-available synthetic cadaver odours.[10] This method is considerably less effective or intensive than that of a dedicated Cadaver Dog. The training does not include detection of human remains buried under concrete, [11] as does the training of a dedicated Cadaver Dog — which can detect human remains that have been buried below concrete for decades.[12]
A cadaver dog would have been required to detect Lisa's remains, buried several feet below concrete for two decades.
Luca's training
Nanaimo RCMP brought "Luca" along for the search.[13]
Luca is a standard police dog, bred and trained to track and immobilize suspects,[14] but not to locate human remains which have been buried below concrete for 20 years — as a specialized cadaver dog is able to.
4 months after the search, it was reported Luca had received additional training in the detection of human remains.[15]
Learn more → How Cadaver Dogs Are Trained (BuzzFeed News)
See Also
Sources
- ↑ RCMP "Police Dog Service Training Centre"
- ↑ RCMP "Our Police Service Dogs"
- ↑ Friends of the Mounted Police Heritage Centre "Pillars of the Force: Police Service Dogs"
- ↑ Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 Natasha Pace, Global News (Mar 4, 2016),
Meet Doc, the first RCMP cadaver dog in Canada
(source) - ↑ Mason Brighton,Spectrum News (October 20, 2022),""
- ↑ Kevin Maimann, Toronto Metro (November 7, 2017), "Incredible unused tool: RCMP officers train dogs to detect human remains"
- ↑ RCMP Gazette (Oct 3, 2016),
Cadaver dog helps close cold cases
(source) - ↑ Indiana Department of Homeland Security "Basic Land Cadaver/HRD Search Techniques for K-9s"
- ↑ Dog Trainer College "Cadaver Detection Training Course"
- ↑ ScentLogix "Cadaver Scent-Reference Material"
- ↑ Natasha Dilkie, Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service (October 1, 2017), "Human Remains Detection: Validity of RCMP Dog Training using Donated Human Remains through the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service"
- ↑ Mara Bovsun, American Kennel Club (November 9, 2023), "How Cadaver Dogs Help Find Dead Bodies"
- ↑ Cyndy Hall, Facebook (November 7, 2023), "Luca searching for Lisa"
- ↑ Alex Rawnsley, The Wolf 106.9 (March 13, 2021), "Training of local Police Dog Service on display in Nanaimo neighbourhood (video)"
- ↑ Alex Rawnsley, NanaimoNewsNow (March 13, 2021), "VIDEO: Training of local Police Dog Service on display in Nanaimo neighbourhood"
