The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a search by a Miami-Dade police officer and his drug-sniffing dog outside a Miami man’s house without a warrant was unconstitutional.
In 2006, police arrested Joelis Jardines on marijuana trafficking charges after a police dog detected he was growing marijuana at his house.
But officials from Gainesville Police and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said their police dogs don’t conduct searches in that manner.
GPD Spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said officers don’t conduct “open-air sniffs” at a suspect’s home. Instead, he said, the Gainesville-Alachua County Drug Task Force, an ASO-GPD drug unit, uses other methods, such as surveillance and undercover purchases, to investigate drug-related crimes.
“If we were in that same situation, we would’ve done a much more in-depth investigation rather than just walking a dog by their door,” he said.
ASO Spokesman Art Forgey said he agrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“If they don’t have justification to be on private property, whether it’s a dog or a person,” Forgey said, “you’re not going to have a case there.”
For law enforcement agencies around Florida, the result of the ruling is yet to be determined.
“Everyone is going to be reviewing exactly what the ruling is to see exactly how it impacts protocols that are used in canine handlers obtaining evidence that could be used in a criminal case,” said Spencer Mann, State Attorney’s Office spokesman.
The officer secured a search warrant and found 179 marijuana plants Jardines’ home, according to the Associated Press. Jardines challenged his arrest, saying police violated his Fourth Amendment rights, according to court records. The case went to the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts, which both sided with Jardines. As a result, the evidence against him was thrown out.
Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@alligator.org.
