12,893 searches were completed by NSW Police in 2015, compared with 14,541 in 2014. This represents a massive 11% decrease within twelve months.

NSW Police have focused most of their sniffer dogs efforts to their Transport Command, which patrols train stations. They conducted 3275 searches last year, with 73% unsuccessful at determining illicit substances.

Last years figures were the lowest since the NSW Greens began publishing statistics in 2011. A potential reason behind this is the fact that false positive search results from sniffer dogs remain extremely high. In the last year 69% of searches carried out by sniffer dogs did not result in actually finding illicit substances.

In other words, 8874 individuals were exposed to invasive NSW Police searches despite not having committed any offence.

Another contributing factor is the large amount of bad press surrounding the use of sniffer dogs, with the public seeing them as invasive and ineffective. The combination of these two variables have caused NSW Police to start decreasing their reliance on the method.

The Sniff Off Campaign run by the NSW Greens is a major example of this. This is an initiative, established in 2014, designed to cease the use of sniffer dogs without a warrant in public places.

Last year, the Greens also proposed a bill before parliament which would have revoked the NSW Police’s power to carry out drug dog searches in public areas such as music festivals and train stations. It was not passed, however.

The Sniff Off Campaign’s Facebook Page has over 22,000 likes, which demonstrates the public support behind this idea.

Many people argue that the heavy use of sniffer dogs at music festivals hasn’t prevent drug use, but instead encouraged people to transport it in much more dangerous ways. For example, people wrap them up and store them in orifices. Alternatively, they “preload”, where they consume all drugs before entering.

This movement against sniffer dogs kicked off in 2006, where an Ombudsman’s Report highlighted that they were an “ineffective tool which led to public searches of individuals in which no drugs were found”.

NSW Police have not publicly backed down from their usage, however, calling them an effective resource when targeting “the use and supply of deadly, illegal drugs… [which are] the root cause of crime.”

They have claimed that the decline in searches has been merely a “fluctuation”, rather than any indication that they are toning down their use of sniffer dogs.

NSW Police have, however, emphasised that they are becoming increasingly aware of how sniffer dog usage can have a negative impact on communities. They assert that in the future, they will continue to ensure that they use sniffer dogs in targeted circumstances.

Author: The article has been contributed by Lucy Taylor, a law expert and blogger from Sydney, working at LY Lawyers - Criminal Lawyers & Law Firm.