Identification of human odors by police dogs

Sophie MARCHAL, Ingénieur chargé de la veille scientifique SCIJ/groupe Odorologie Sous-direction de la police technique et scientifique Direction centrale de la police judiciaire, Écully

Barbara FERRY, CNRS Research Associate Centre de recherches en neurosciences Lyon UMR 5292 CNRS – INSERM U 1028 – Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

Odorology is a technique used by police dogs to identify human odors. Used by Ecully's Sub-Directorate of Technical and Scientific Police (SDPTS) since 2003, it can be used to demonstrate the presence of an individual at the scene of an offence. Analysis of all the data shows that, after two years' training, the dogs are able to match two human scents in 85% of cases, without ever making a mistake....