Joe,


To my mind the biggest mistake was made by oic Why in the world would they bring in a back hoe and dig at that point in time? Many times vegetation can tell you a lot about a grave. Don't disturbe it until you have something solid to work with. Also the backhoe could have destroyed a lot of evidence. YES dogs will sometimes investigate fresh soil as long as they don't GIVE AN ALERT I see no problem. If they alert then investigate it. This is something they do in training that ges them rewards. Why not! and somtimes that foot work disturbs the ground enough that they do get scent after doing so.


Bill T.

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Replying to:

I don't get involved in cadaver work just the trailing side. The other night the unit was called out to a search near the airport where 2 bodies were supposed to be buried. Upon the arrival of the cadaver dogs The OIC decided to get a back hoe and dig up the area where the remains were supposed to be. When the dogs got there they began digging in the area where the fresh dirt was taken from. Will the dogs tend to hit on the fresh dirt because of the different svcents coming from that area? No remains were found at the site