If dog owners have prejudices about a particular ethnicity or race and are suspected of having an individual possessing a banned substance, the dog will make a mistake when examining people in those backgrounds.
SAM BAKER: According to prison services, detection dogs may determine if a handler has a prejudice. A new guidance issued by the body to staff last week explained that dog owners need to be aware that there may be “unconscious bias” at work. The 116-page document was compiled following a survey conducted at a university…
According to the prison service, the detection dog may determine if the handler has a prejudice. Studies have shown that the dog’s ability to read body language is so impressive that dogs can understand it, whether intentionally or unintentionally, if the handler is suspicious.
In the document, the guidance for prison services states: A study conducted by the University of California, Davis found that the beliefs and expectations of handlers can affect the performance of detection dogs. “This is especially important because it suggests that the handler needs to be aware of issues with unconscious bias”…
During a study in California, dog handlers had to walk their dog partners around a pre-prepared area to look for explosives. However, instead of explosives, researchers hid sausages and red warning signs around a controlled environment. The idea was that sausages acted as a distraction for the dog, and warning signs would get the owner’s attention.
Despite the absence of explosives, many false positive alerts were recorded, most often in areas with red warning signs. Therefore, studies have shown that if dog owners have prejudices about a particular ethnicity or race and are suspected of having an individual possessing a banned substance, the dog will make a mistake when examining people in those backgrounds. We conclude that we are likely to issue an alarm…
The news comes after earlier this year, when a major British study claimed sniffer dogs are more effective than rapid tests at detecting cases of Covid-19 and could soon be deployed at airports. Researchers found coronavirus has a ‘distinctive odour’ that means specially-trained medical detection dogs can identify infected people, even those without symptoms. Astonishingly, the dogs are able to detect up to 94 per cent per cent of cases – making them significantly more accurate than rapid lateral flow tests…
They said two dogs could screen 300 passengers coming off a plane for Covid-19 in just 30 minutes. People identified as positive by the dogs would then receive a PCR test to confirm the results… The authors said their findings had ‘exceeded all expectations’ and that dogs could be used at workplaces, theaters and stadiums to help Britain get back to normal. The scientists… are currently in discussions with the Department of Health and the World Health Organisation about deploying dogs at airports. SOURCE…
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