ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — You’ve probably heard of drug-sniffing dogs but have you heard of dogs that can sniff out electronic data?

The New Mexico Department of Justice has been using specially-trained dogs to sniff out evidence of internet crimes against children in our state.

Joey, the electronic scent detection K-9, is retiring from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This unit’s mission is to locate, track and capture internet child sex predators and child pornographers.

“He’s much more than just an electronic detection dog. He is somebody that is a member of this team,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said.

Joey joined the team in 2018 to detect certain data on any device with electronic storage capabilities.

“He is an incredible asset to the work that we do. He’s worked on ICAT cases fraud cases as I understand it. And he’s been someone who has just done an extraordinary job for the agency,” AG Torrez said. “He has brought in addition to all the work he’s done to help these investigations. He’s brought a lot of love and a lot of joy.”

Two new dogs, Special Agent Gadget and Special Agent Nicks, will follow in Joey’s pawprints now that he is retired.