I'm not certain if this is the proper forum for this post. The following is a recent AP article regarding Sandra Anderson, who apparently was a trainer and handler of cadaver dogs.
- A woman who once was recognized as one of the nation's best trainers and handlers of cadaver sniffing dogs was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison for planting bones and other fake evidence in cases she worked. Sandra A. Anderson, 43, had pleaded guilty in Detroit to five felony charges.
An August 2003 indictment said Anderson faked evidence in several cases in Michigan and Ohio. She planted bones in search areas and used her body fluids to stain a saw blade, it said.
"I lost track (no pun intended) of why I was offering my services", she said in court. - AP
I'd be curious to know if any HRD dog handlers have experienced any fallout from this case, or if it hasn't really had any noticeable effect on your relations with LE?
One of the results of this is The Body Farm at the University of Tenn, in Knoxville, is no longer allowing dog teams to come there for training. Some of her "material" was thought to have been stolen from there. I was lucky enough to go there last lear and it was a really tremendous expierience for dogs and handlers both.
Yes, this has been hashed out ad nauseaum as Nancy eluded to on the SAR boards. Unfortunately one person's ego got the best of her, and she totally betrayed her wonderful dog, and all HRD dogs and handlers as a result. The whole thing made me scathingly angry/sick when it broke and it still very much does.
This did have a short-term affect in my area with LE and FBI, but seems to have blown over - thankfully. It's good to be very proud of your dog when you have a find, and there is no better feeling, and that should be ENOUGH of a reward - there is NO room in SAR for false bravado, or loosing sight of why you serve . . . we don't need anymore Sandra Anderson's in the SAR community. Hope I never see this in my lifetime again! Enough said, eh?!
OldE,
Thanks for answering my question. I have seen the discussions on the SAR forums. My question wasn't whether or not Anderson did a very bad thing (it's a no brainer that she did), it was specifically if anyone here has directly experienced fallout that can be attributed specifically to the Anderson case.
Don't know if there's a connection, but our team callouts have been suprisingly low since spring. Some, I know, has been due to mom and pop teams "mucking up" searches. Getting to be to many of those that just show up at sites. Scanner chasers. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
I know that the FBI that we work with don't hold us responsible for something someone else did just because we have the same job.
Of course we are part of their ERT team and have a good relationship with them.
The Hwy Patrol too.
Local LE on the other hand do take it as if we all in the SAR community did the crime. It is very hard to establish a relationship with LE that hear about things like this.
I don't believe it has had an affect on our team per say, but like Bob said "mom/pop teams" are out there doing numbers just as badly as S. Anderson did by not having the training, experience, or professionalism that they should have before going on a call. The problem is that LE doesn't ask for credientials when they show up on a search, and they don't ask to see training logs. It's aweful.
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