Security sweep held before title game

Alabama faces Notre Dame in BCS National Championship game at Sun Life Stadium

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Police K-9s spent Monday morning search for explosives at Sun Life Stadium, one of several security sweeps to take place ahead of the BCS National Championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame.

Lt. Jeff Schmidinger and his K-9 partner Bo swept the lower level seats before making their way inside the stadium.

The two have worked together on several high profile events, including Super Bowl XLIV.

"What we're doing is looking for any explosive device that may be in the area," Schmindinger told Local 10's Carlos Suarez.

Local 10 also got a look inside the officiating crews locker room. Police will work in 12 hour shifts with their K-9s through the end of the game.

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Bo has been on the force for seven years.

"If they find an explosive device, what they'll do is what we call a passive alert. They'll sit down and we have bomb technicians on site to check out anything that they alert to," Schmindinger said.

Some 73,000 are expected at the game.

There was one area where Bo and his partner could not get access to until it's closer to game time. Both Alabama and Notre Dame put a padlock on the doors to their locker room.

The area will be swept before kickoff.

"They're much more reliable than any other equipment you may have, or people, and that's why they're used worldwide," said Schmindinger.