NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As thousands of travelers make their way through BNA, all looks calm by the baggage carousel. But behind the scenes, Havoc reigns.
"If you come to the Nashville airport, she will find out if you're trying to do something you're not supposed to," said Alan Keene, Captain of Special Services with the Metro Nashville Airport Authority.
Havoc is a K9 narcotics detection and human tracking K9 with the Metro Nashville Airport Authority. In her lifetime of service, Havoc has detected about 80 lbs of meth, 16 lbs of fentanyl, and 6,000 lbs of marijuana.
With a face like hers, she can be hard to resist. But like any officer, Havoc takes the job seriously.
"When she's working we treat it just like — wouldn't want somebody come up and pet you while you're working," said Capt. Keene. "She's in the same capacity."
Her powerful nose can detect 8 different odors of narcotics.
"K9s, depending on who you talk to, have either 1,000 to 10,000 sense— stronger sense of smell than what we have," said Keene.
That sense of smell recently led her to detect luggage carrying 11 pounds of lethal fentanyl, amounting to four million lethal doses. The next day Havoc sniffed out crystal meth in another passenger's luggage.
"She loves to work. I mean, that's literally what she loves to do," said Keene. "She loves to wake up, come to the Nashville airport, and help our asset and make sure that everything is safe and secure."
Havoc is one of nine K9s on the team: three are responsible for narcotics detection and human tracking, while six are explosive ordinance canines.
"They help our passengers that are coming in and out of Nashville airport go home safely; they'll never even know it," said Keene. They're working tirelessly behind the scenes."
When it comes to protecting passengers, Havoc's got it in the bag.
