lauren townsend

This article is picked up from KTNV Las Vegas:

Security preparations are underway for the presidential inauguration, and have been for some time.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is giving the Secret Service some much needed help, and some of it comes from right around our region.

"He has found eleven live devices so far to date, thousands of firearms, and i couldn't even begin to tell you how many rounds of ammunition," says Special Agent Lauren Townsend about her partner, Joe.

That's a lengthy resume for an ATF agent who has only been on the job for seven years.

But Joe isn't your average agent.

Joe is a Labrador Retriever, specializing in explosives detection.

They showed Action News how Joe's colleagues will be working for at the presidential inauguration.

They'll conduct security sweeps.

"Typically, since we agents across the country, and we have a lot of resources," says Townsend.

And a lot of that training.

Agents hid several explosives amid a sea of cars in an undisclosed junk yard on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

"He was in the truck, three hundred yards away," says Townsend.

Methodically, Joe and Lauren begin their search, and then, the tell-tale change in behavior, usually, Joe sitting.

Of course, we can't give away trade secrets, but Joe can find even explosives fragments, like in the Luxor bombing.

He also sweeps major events, like the PBR, an assist for local law enforcement.

"We're all looking for the same thing. Ultimately, our goal is to make sure everyone is safe," says Townsend.

And at only 9-years-old, it's almost time for Joe to retire after a job well done.

ATF typically retires dogs at nine-years-old.

On one of Joe's exploits in the valley, he found a live pipe bomb along with twenty guns.

Agents say that without question, he has saved lives in the Valley.