When Can Police Use Drug Dogs?

Answer:

If you were pulled over in the Orlando, Florida area by law enforcement and they used the canine or the dogs to conduct a sweep of your vehicle without your consent, then we would highly suggest that you contact an attorney that’s experienced in these types of situations. In Florida, law enforcement does have the ability to bring upon canines or dogs to aid in traffic stops. At its basic level, that’s allowable but if you get an experienced attorney onboard, we can find things that will help you in your case and help minimize any of the incriminating evidence that they may find or best protect you in these types of cases because just being pulled over and having the dogs brought, that’s one scenario, but you have to look at what happened before that.

If you bring in an experienced criminal defense attorney, we can focus on why they stopped you in the first place. Was the stop proper? Was the search and seizure legal or illegal? These are two huge things that many attorneys miss if they’re not experienced in this type of field. Once the dogs are there, that’s secondary and we can deal with that issue later. We tend to look at things before that. Why was the stop made? Was it within legal parameters? Because if it wasn’t, we can get everything that comes after that dismissed. If they didn’t have probable cause to stop you, if the search and seizure was illegal, then anything the dogs may or may not have found or the fact that the dogs were even there, that will just get completely thrown out.

It’s very important to get an attorney who is knowledgeable with these laws and who’s knowledgeable with the traffic stops, knowledgeable with the probable cause required for these stops to get on your case as soon as possible. This could have huge impact on the final outcome of your case. If you have any other questions about traffic stops and how they relate to drug offenses or any other crimes, please feel free to contact the Victory law firm.