Bomb Threat Shows Weaknesses

DAYTON - Eight bomb threats were made in the state of Washington on Nov. 15, one of which to the Columbia County Courthouse forced law enforcement to re-evalu- ate its bomb plan.

The caller who made the threat on the courthouse said a bomb would go off 25 min- utes after the call was placed, Columbia County Sheriff Walt Hessler said in a city council meeting on Nov. 26.

The call was reported in the police log at 3:17 p.m.

The threat was ultimately empty, which Hessler said made the whole event a good training exercise by high- lighting weaknesses in the Columbia County Sheriff's Office's bomb response.

"We found our short- comings," Hessler said. "We had three people on the law enforce- ment side to take care of everything, and in turn we neglected to go around and notify the surrounding busi- nesses."

Hessler said he and his chief deputy alone evacuated the courthouse and conducted the search for anything that may have looked suspi- cious.

Dian McClurg, the public information officer for the sheriff's office, said she has not heard of any plans to change or update the bomb response plan for Columbia County. Hessler said law enforcement will delegate to Columbia County Fire District 3 to evacuate the sur- rounding area in the case of another bomb threat.

An unusual number of bomb threat calls were also reported in Indiana and Or- egon that same day. Detec- tives in Benton County have started trying to track down the parties responsible for the threat on the courthouse and they should have the resources to progress on the case, Hessler said.

There are a few bomb squads in Eastern Washing- ton, said Sergeant Tom Fos- ter of the Washington State Patrol's Eastern Washington Explosives Unit. Foster said his team gets the call and his truck responds out of

Pasco if an area sweep by law enforcement and management reveals any threats. His team would respond to Co- lumbia County.

The distance between Pasco and Dayton could cause problems for threatened areas in Columbia County, especially in an instance like the last threat, with only 25 minutes until a potential bomb would be detonated.

Precious minutes could make a difference if a real bomb threat occurred, but that initial sweep for potential threats is vital for Foster and his team. The bomb squad, Foster said, doesn't know what items are potential threats and what is harmless, like someone's lunch.

"Our function in life is to render safe hazardous items," Foster said. "Our function is not to search -- it's to make things safe."

Of course, there is a caveat, Foster said. The team is still a law enforcement agency, so if it receives a call and it is requested to help search, the group is more than willing to come out. Foster just points out that his team is not the expert on what be- longs in any random building or office.

"Bombs are not like in an old Western (movie), a bundle of dynamite with a fuse on it," Foster said. "You're the only one who can establish if something in your office is a threat."

Foster said there are a couple of things to keep in mind if a bomb threat is made. The person who takes the call should always ask questions and try to gain more infor- mation about what the bomb looks like or where it might be located. If evacuation is necessary, anyone in the area should remove anything they brought in, like briefcases and purses, to remove known safe items and reduce the search for potential threats.

"Look around your space," Foster said. "Make a note of things that are unusual or suspicious."

Foster said evacuation is difficult in bomb threat situ- ations because unless details about the size and contents of the bomb are known, a safe perimeter is difficult to establish.

"We like a perimeter of at least 300 feet," Foster said. "It's just very generic."

Foster said his team hopes law enforcement and civil- ians use common sense when evacuating and creating a perimeter. If the bomb threat is called in and the caller says it's inside a truck semi trailer, law enforcement might want to evacuate a mile or two, just to be safe, Foster said. If the bomb is a 6-inch pipe bomb, only the building would need to be evacuated, he said.

"If the threat doesn't seem credible, plenty of businesses will decide not to evacuate," Foster said. "The manage- ment has to decide."

Foster gave the example of a large store like Wal-Mart, which could lose a lot of money by evacuating. If law enforcement advises the store be evacuated and the threat is a hoax, the store will have lost sales for no reason. On the other hand, Foster said if law enforcement advises the store to continue business as usual and the threat is legitimate, many lives could be lost in the blast.

Foster said empty threats, like the one made to the courthouse, are often made by people who are trying to get out of court, school or work.

"Don't panic, but don't ig- nore such threats," Foster said.

Hessler said the Sheriff's office now knows where weaknesses are in the bomb response protocol and will work to update local business bomb threat response plans as well.

" We procured a bomb threat ( information) card from (the Washington State Department of Corrections) and we are currently having them printed," Hessler said. "We will distribute (the cards) throughout the courthouse and around town and other government agencies."

The cards will contain the pertinent questions to ask if a person or establishment receives a bomb threat, Hes- sler said.