‘Drug dogs unleashed’: An historical and political account of drug detection dogs for street-level policing of illicit drugs in New South Wales, Australia
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865816642826 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Author | Kari Lancaster,Alison Ritter,Caitlin Hughes |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2017, Vol. 50(3) 360–378
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865816642826
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Article
‘Drug dogs unleashed’: An
historical and political account
of drug detection dogs for
street-level policing of illicit
drugs in New South Wales,
Australia
Kari Lancaster, Caitlin Hughes and
Alison Ritter
Drug Policy Modelling Program, National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre, UNSW Australia, Australia
Abstract
This article provides an historical and descriptive account of the introduction and develop-
ment of the use of drug detection dogs as a tool for street-level illicit drugs policing in one
Australian jurisdiction, NSW. Within this account, the legal and political context in which drug
detection dogs emerged and gained prominence is described. The introduction of drug
detection dogs was contingent on the political imperatives at work throughout the 1990s
in NSW, and the increased salience of both policing and illicit drugs issues at this time. In
documenting the emergence of the use of drug detection dogs from the early 2000s, and the
associated legal challenges and rapid legislative responses, the role of third sector organisa-
tions and the media in generating debate is notable. Debates concerning the dogs’ effective-
ness emerged in the mid- to late-2000s, giving rise to anomalies between policy and evidence.
The more recent legislative developments and public and political debate about drug detec-
tion dogs from 2012 to 2014 can be seen in light of this history. By taking a different view
which situates decisions and events in their historical and political context, we begin to see
the dynamic processes and contingency involved in the development and implementation of
particular illicit drugs policing policies over time. As debate about drug detection dogs con-
tinues to play out, generating new insights into drugs policing policy processes is imperative.
Keywords
Drug detection dogs, drug policy, history, New South Wales, policing, policy processes
Corresponding author:
Kari Lancaster, Drug Policy Modelling Program, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia,
Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Email: k.lancaster@unsw.edu.au
Introduction
The use of drug detection dogs for street-level policing of illicit drugs has formed an
important part of how the police perform street-level drug detection duties in Australia.
Drug detection dogs (‘sniffer dogs’) are used in many countries as a high visibility
policing strategy; however, the expansion of their use has not been without criticism
(Marks, 2007; Meagher, 2009; Nabben, 2009). Last year, public debate regarding the use
and effectiveness of drug detection dogs was reignited in the New South Wales (NSW)
Parliament, with the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Amendment
(Sniffer Dogs – Repeal of Powers) Bill 2015 being introduced to repeal provisions relat-
ing to the use of police dogs for general drug detection.
While the effectiveness of drug detection dogs and their influence on drug use behav-
iour remain controversial and hotly debated topics (e.g. Dunn & Degenhardt, 2009;
Hickey, McIlwraith, Bruno, Matthews, & Alati, 2012; Hughes, Weatherburn, &
MacCoun, 2014; Jezierski et al., 2014; NSW Ombudsman, 2006), there has been little
examination of how this policing strategy came to be introduced. In nations like
Australia, and in domains like drug policy, where the rhetoric of ‘evidence-based
policy’ is particularly dominant (Lancaster, 2014; Ritter & Lancaster, 2013), there
may be a tendency to assume that new interventions emerge through a rational process
of authoritative decision making, carefully weighing up the effectiveness of proposed
solutions. Through this lens, new approaches to crime policy and illicit drugs (such as
the use of drug detection dogs for street-level policing) may be seen as logical and
inevitable responses to particular policy problems, drawing on the best available infor-
mation and advice at the time. However, evidence-based policy making has rarely been
the dominant approach to illicit drugs policing (Ritter & Lancaster, 2013). This then
requires analysis which considers factors other than ‘evidence’ such as cultural, norma-
tive or political influences, which shape responses to illicit drugs. As noted by Bull
(2008, p. 4), historical accounts demonstrate the ways in which current policy responses
to illicit drugs are ‘culturally, historically and politically situated’. Thus, by taking a
different view which situates decisions and events in their historical and political context,
we may begin to see the dynamic processes and contingency involved in the development
of particular illicit drugs policing policies over time.
The aim of this article is to provide an historical and descriptive account of one
particular illicit drugs policing case study: the introduction and development of the
use of drug detection dogs as a tool for street-level illicit drugs policing in NSW,
Australia. While our focus is on this particular case study, we suggest that the themes
highlighted within this account (including political contestation, the availability of ‘solu-
tions’, notions of ‘effectiveness’, how the problem of drugs can be thought about, and the
dynamic and contingent nature of decision-making) have broad implications for the
study of other policing and drug policy issues across the globe. This case study has
been chosen because NSW led the way in adopting and expanding the use of police
dogs for street-level illicit drugs policing in Australia. Within this account, we describe
the legal and political context in which drug detection dogs emerged and gained prom-
inence. By identifying key actors and events in the development of drug detection dogs as
a policing strategy, we document how drug detection dogs became embedded within the
Lancaster et al. 361
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