What the Cold Nose Knows

Confidence in dog and handler aside, the scent-collecting process itself is not above controversy. "Scent is a fragile creature to begin with," argues Titus. "In my opinion, the use of scent machines takes the whole idea further down the line of pipe dreams."




The scent transfer unit's inventor, Bill Tolhurst of the Niagara County (New York) Sheriff's Department, dismisses that argument. Tolhurst says he's successfully run dog scent lineups using evidence pads stored for more than 11 years in frozen, heat-sealed plastic bags. Tolhurst, a three-time past president of the National Police Bloodhound Association, says he's pulled human scent off shell casings from drive-by shootings. Among his proudest accomplishments, he says, is a conviction in a kidnapping and attempted murder case in which his bloodhound matched the defendant to scent vacuumed off the seat of a car last driven by the offender.




To date, Tolhurst has sold more than 80 of his scent-collecting machines to law enforcement agencies—including 35 to California police and sheriff's departments and 7 to the FBI.




Lawyers will be arguing about the merits of dog-witness identifications and procedures for years. In the rape case described earlier, the judge
ruled Reilly's scent identification inadmissible, citing, among other things, D'Allura's lineup procedure. D'Allura stopped the lineup as soon as Reilly alerted on the second pad, rather than allowing him to proceed down the line. In addition, D'Allura couldn't recall when or from whom he'd made the lineup's three decoy pads. Were they from individuals of the same race as the suspect? D'Allura couldn't say.




Of course, having evidence dismissed is part of the legal process; win some, lose some. D'Allura points to several cases in which Reilly's testi-mony played a decisive role. In a major coup for scent lineup proponents, a California appeals court recently upheld Reilly's identification of a teenager convicted of a double homicide, as well as the young man's sentence of two consecutive life terms.




Does the cold nose know? Criminal juries may be happy to say yes. But the scientific jury remains out.