One thing that always surprised people about the University of Georgia Police Department while I was there was not only that they had a SWAT team, but also that they had a Bomb Squad. “A Bomb Squad? Why on earth are we spending money on that?”
Well, waaaaay back in 1996, there was this little sporting event called the Olympic Games. While Atlanta was the official hosting city, two events were held in Athens at UGa: Rhythmic Gymnastics (not likely to inspire a terrorist attack), and the Olympic Soccer finals (which scared the bejeezus out of God fearing Georgians who had certainly never heard of this “foot-ball” that used a ROUND ball, heavens forbid Bubba; have you ever heard of such a thing?). Warily eying footage from England and Europe and other weird places where soccer matches had turned into riots, state Law Enforcement grimly prepared themselves for the worst. At the end of shift briefing the first day, our Chief, noted for his dry sense of humor, poked his head into the room and told us all “Remember- save the last bullet for yourself” and disappeared.
I gotta give him points for that; that’s probably exactly what I would have said.
Now, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI, the state version of the FBI, and really a pretty professional organization) had a bomb squad, divided into several geographical areas; but they didn’t have one for NorthEast Georgia. For any response to bombs, we relied on the National Guard’s 4th Weapons of Mass Destruction; who our unit called on years later for recovered military ordnance. We also had some other National Guard units on hand to supplement manpower.
If you’re wondering why we were worried about IEDs, I ask you to cast your mind back to Eric Rudolph, and the Centennial Park bombing that thrust Richard Jewell into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Any highly public event will attract people trying to make a statement… something we better not forget in this day and age; when the numbers of axes people want to grind is legion. And with this mindset, every tiny thing became a suspicious package. Backpack left on the sidewalk in front of some public toilets? Better investigate… but with the 4th WMD guys hard pressed to cover everything, this response usually fell to under-trained officers under the command of exasperated command staff. That backpack call had an officer respond and ask over the radio (uhhhhh no radios please) “What should I do?” The response was a tense “Just kick it!”
Yeah. I later used that line in my training classes at the regional Academy as exactly how NOT to respond to a suspicious package.
One other incident led to the best line I ever wrote in a police report. A National Guardsman was stationed at the exit of Tanyard Creek, that ran through campus and through a tunnel under the stadium where the soccer finals were held. This tunnel was of concern because there was a manhole cover in the tunnel that led into the fenced perimeter of the stadium. The Guardsman who was sentenced to sitting in a folding chair guarding the tunnel exit reported some kind of torpedo-like tube sticking out of a manhole a few yards away. I got the call, still fresh from the Academy, and went to see what it was.
As it turned out, it was a flow meter the City had placed there and posed no threat. But it did give me the opportunity to describe it in the official police report as a “Long cylindrical shaft inserted into a man hole”.
*cue Beavis and Butthead chuckling*
As it turned out, the Olympic Soccer finals were a cakewalk; and those two weeks were far more peaceful than any UGa home game. But the PD was able to make a persuasive case to the University of the need of an EOD unit; citing the lack of any other units in the region, and an agreement with the GBI (who weren’t ready to staff and equip another unit for this area) for us, as another State agency, to handle any bomb calls in northeast Georgia; and after 2 years of wrangling, the UGAPD EOD Unit was born. The members were selected by the Command Staff based on the criteria set by the National Bomb Squad Commander’s Advisory Board (NBSCAB, pronounced “nab-scab”); to include decision-making ability, technical knowledge, ability to learn new concepts, calmness under stress, and- maybe the most under looked requirement- no predilection to claustrophobia. If you’ve ever been sealed up in a bomb suit, you’ll understand this one.
The first two technicians were selected at the end of 1998, and attended the FBI’s five week (at the time) Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. I was selected shortly after they left for HDS, but had to wait until the end of 1999 for another slot.
My journey through HDS will be another section of this series; as will our first ever live call-out, that ended rather… ignominiously.