Supreme Court dog sniff ruling unlikely to affect county

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling last Monday that police can have dogs
check motorists’ vehicles for drugs without probable cause won’t have
an affect in Michigan.

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said the ruling that will
allow police dogs to sniff only the outside of a car during traffic
violations isn’t much different than the state’s current law on search
and seizures.

“That ruling doesn’t necessarily affect us,” he said. “In this
state, if the vehicle is on the roadway or a parking lot open to the
public, you can run the dog by there without any probable cause.”

According to Michigan law, the state does not consider the procedure
as a search and seizure, Mioduszewski said. The law states that the
virtue of a dog smelling a car is probable enough, as long as it’s in a
public right of way.

The 6-2 opinion, written by Justice John Paul Stevens, could also
lead to more expansive searches that would give law enforcement
agencies no reason to crack down on illegal activity.

“I think the decision is good for the drug enforcement agency,
federally, but as far as the law enforcement in Michigan it’s not
really going to change things at all,” he said. “Often times, actually,
our state government laws are more strict then what the Supreme Court
says is OK.”

Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruling is not going to affect K-9
handlers statewide, illegal activity is always a top concern,
Mioduszewski said.

Isabella County currently has two drug dogs – the Saginaw Chippewa
Tribal dog and Officer K-9 Lizzy.

No campus drug dog

It’s been more than a month since the university police department
was left with vacancies and no drug dog or a handler to serve on the
K-9 Unit.

CMU Police Chief Stan Dinius said the program was a success in terms
of cracking down on campus crime and illegal drug activity.

“We feel the K-9 Program has been very positive for Central Michigan
University and are looking forward to continuing the program,” he said.
“However, we have had a number of personnel changes within the CMU
Police Department and are working on several personnel issues.”

One, of course, being no K-9 Unit, Dinius said.

Officer K-9 Lizzy, known as the campus drug dog, left the CMU Police
K-9 Unit about a month ago when Mioduszewski, who is the dog handler,
took the position of county sheriff.

The Isabella County Sheriff’s Department purchased the drug dog for
$1 and the police vehicle for $4,200. Liability issues were another
reason why the university didn’t keep Lizzy, Mioduszewski said.

“The reason why I was able to purchase Lizzy so cheaply was because
the chances are that she may not work with another dog handler,” he
said.

Illegal drug activity might rise

Mioduszewski said with no K-9 Unit, it will be harder for CMU Police
to detect illegal drug activity on campus.

“I think it is better if you have a dog based out of the
university,” he said. “As far as when that’s going to occur, I guess I
really don’t have a feeling for how soon it’s going to happen.”

Dinius had said the likelihood of getting a K-9 Unit right away is
slim and his department was going to see if somebody was interested in
being a drug dog handler.

“We’re more than happy to help the university out, but we’re not
going to be there 40 hours a week like we were before,” Mioduszewski
said. “We’ll still be available though.”

Mioduszewski said that availability is limited, though, since they
are no longer working for the CMU Police.

“We are working on a proposal to request funding for an additional
community policing/K-9 officer,” Dinius said. “Sheriff Mioduszewski has
advised the university that he is available to do drug searches if
needed.”