In a quiet corner of the county, a small group of highly specialized officers works hard to protect unknowing citizens.

In this issue, Valley Response Magazine takes an exclusive peek into the world of local bomb squads. Homicide, robbery, and pursuits make for sensational stories, but the work of the bomb technician is less publicized. Nonetheless, it takes a special breed of officer.

Members of the Visalia Bomb Squad, aside from their daily routine, perform monthly training consisting of driving their robot in and out of tight situations, x-ray interpretations, working with explosives, practicing the art of demolition, suiting up, and double checking equipment and communication systems.

Recently, Fresno County Sergeant Kevin Draughon coordinated forces with Fresno, Visalia, and Clovis police departments to help organize the first multi-agency bomb team training exercise. Sergeant Phillips of the Visalia Police Department Bomb Squad stated that, “All the local organizations have a great working environment. … We’re very fortunate; there are very few egos when we’re working. It’s pretty amazing how seamless they all work together.”

Unilateral Training

The radical 1960s brought a need to cohesively combat domestic terrorism to the forefront of the nation’s concern. Accordingly, in the 1970s, the FBI devised a national program aligned with the law enforcement community, as opposed to the military, as is customary in many countries. Every bomb technician throughout the country, regardless of law enforcement affiliation, is trained exactly the same way.

“Bomb squads are the only specialized unit that receive the same federal training; we all go to the same six-week hazardous devices school,” said Phillips. “We all have to be re-certified every three years in Huntsville, Alabama. We learn a lot that way, and it makes it easier to deal with others.”

Clovis P.D. Sergeant Dean Menard elaborated on the training. “It’s the only discipline policy that is unilateral across the board—administrated and hosted by the FBI. We have manuals and policy that are very stringent.”

The recent local, multi-agency training exercise helped fill a need that each law enforcement organization saw, and tested each officer on several levels. “We do a lot of training for handling more normal stuff such as suspicious packages and pipe bombs,” said Phillips. But “this training was to prepare for chemical weapons and biological threats.”

Suiting Up

Protection is key for this kind of work. “The officers wear 130 pounds of equipment plus helmet,” said Fresno County Sheriff’s Bomb Commander Kevin Draughon. Suiting up can take 30 to 40 minutes.

The bomb suits worn by the technicians can significantly raise the body’s core temperature and deplete the body of fluid in a matter of minutes, so putting on and working in the suits is an essential part of training.

“Some people go from 98.6 to 103 in a matter of minutes,” which can affect their mental functioning, Draughon said. “We monitor vital signs, blood pressure, core temperature, and pulse.”

Donning the suits, reminiscent of space suits, with self-contained breathing apparatus, the officers take part in scenarios designed to test their abilities in time-crunch situations.

“We made functional devices for the scenarios so if someone didn’t do something right, it would go off,” Draughon said. “It helped us figure out how to stage a big event that will need multiple agencies.”

Because the bomb squad is such a specialized facet of law enforcement, recycling and resourcefulness are also key to the success of the task force.

“Our equipment doesn’t go to waste. If we have extra equipment, we sell it or give it away at a nominal price,” said Phillips. “Our trailer came from Fresno P.D.”

“If there’s a specific need for a type of tool, a lot (of officers) will build their own. In the ’70s, there was nothing commercially available. A lot (of officers) made their own equipment or developed their own hand tools,” Phillips said of the specialized equipment.

Ready for Anything

Phillips stressed that Valley residents should feel comfortable knowing there are several highly trained local squads who are equipped and qualified to deal with everything from the smallest firecracker to a larger threat.

“Some kids take Safe N’ Sane fireworks and modify them, or mix chemicals together to make water bottles explode,” said Phillips. This can be very dangerous—in the past kids have been injured.

“The beauty of doing what we do is that we always go with at least two technicians who proceed very slow and methodic,” said Menard. “Our motto is ‘Not my bomb, not my bank.’ We’re all going home tonight. We have the opposite mindset of being a street cop, who makes split second decisions that affect people’s lives.”

Phillips said that their call-out schedule varies greatly. “We can go a month or two and have nothing, or have three to four call-outs in a week. Once we had two calls in the same day.” Phillips reassures residents that though they respond to bomb calls twenty-five to thirty times a year, most calls lead to nothing significant and are often simply a suspicious package or suitcase, illegal fireworks, or a battery and wires.

1 comment