Pam Bondi Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Upholding 'Dog Sniff' Probable Cause

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is welcoming today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court inFlorida v. Clayton Harris, which ruled that a police dog's sniff constituted probable cause for Liberty County K-9 Officer William Wheetley to search one Claytons Harris vehicle for illegal drugs.

The high court unanimously reversed the Florida Supreme Courts judgment and declared, Because training records established Aldos reliability in detecting drugs and Harris failed to undermine that showing, we agree with the trial court that Wheetley had probable cause to search Harris truck.

This victory is paramount to preserving our law enforcement officers ability to use police dog alerts to locate illegal drugs and arrest those who possess them," Bondi said in a statement after the ruling was published. "The Supreme Court correctly held that a police dogs reliability is determined through a common-sense evaluation of the relevant circumstances, rather than through a rigid set of judge-created requirements."

More to come ...