Reading Room Document

Use of Department of Defense Drug-Detecting Dogs to Aid in Civilian Law Enforcement

Lending Department of Defense drug-detecting dogs to civilian law enforcement officials and training the officials to handle the dogs is permitted by the Posse Comitatus Act. The use of Department of Defense personnel to search, but not seize, materials is permissible if there are no persons present with whom a confrontation might arise. The restrictions of 10 U S.C. § 375 are inapplicable to the Navy and the Marine Corps. Therefore, the use of Naval and Marine drug-detecting dogs lies within the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/24246/download.

June 23, 1989