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Down in the Dumps

NCJ Number
157659
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Dated: (May 1995) Pages: 55-58
Author(s)
P R Laska
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes how police officers in Marin County, Florida, conducted a search for the body of a missing girl in the local landfill.
Abstract
The operation required close cooperation between the police department, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Marin County Fire Rescue and their hazardous materials (Haz-Mat) unit. All search personnel operating in the area where the search for the missing girl was to occur had to be properly clad in protective clothing and wear some type of respiratory equipment. In addition to police officers, dogs in the K-9 unit were specially trained to search for a cadaver in the landfill. Special procedures to protect the dogs, decontaminate them, and give them oxygen also had to be implemented. Although the missing child was never found in the landfill, after three weeks of searching, the operation helped law enforcement and public safety personnel to develop procedures to conduct this type of complex and time-consuming operation.