Agencies talk changes to bomb threat responses

BONNERS FERRY —First responders weary of repeated false alarms have decided to readjust the response policy to incidents where students scrawl the word “bomb” on classroom and bathroom stall walls.

A 6:15 p.m. Dec. 4 a public workshop at the District Offices will allow public comment on the new policy before the school district signs off on it, as well as taking comment on the District’s extra and co-curricular policies and drug testing program.

At the Nov. 18 city council meeting, Bonners Ferry Police Chief Bob Boone and Boundary County Incident Commander Bob Graham presented the new policy, as they had done at a number of meetings before, including the most recent school board meeting and the county commissioners’ meeting.

“This is an area of agreement between county emergency services, the Sheriff’s department, the fire chief, ICRMP and the Bonners Ferry Police Department,” said Chief Boone.

ICRMP is the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, who insures the city, county and school district. They were the group who originally opposed a response change, worried about the risks. Given the ongoing issue, ICRMP agrees that the situation has changed.

The response change is to one of evaluation, Boone said.

“The policy has been a complete evacuation, and it’s well known,” Boone said. “In fact, we’re the laughingstock of Idaho, the bomb threat capital of the state.”

“We’ve had somewhere around 18 of these in the last couple of years,” Incident Commander

Graham said, “We initially responded fully, with everyone available plus bomb dogs out of Spokane. That took us almost all day, and the kids missed the day of school.”

After the first few times, the bomb dogs were dropped, Graham said. Searches were then done with all available law enforcement.

Halfway through the last 18 incidents, fire department volunteers were added to the searches. Searches included all backpacks, all the lockers, classrooms and gymnasiums. Searches took a few hours, and students were allowed back in after officials decided it was all clear.

In the future, there will be no more immediate evacuations, Graham said. When a threat comes in, the ranking police officer (Sheriff’s department if it is Mt. Hall or Naples), the superintendent and principal of the school will meet with Incident Commander Graham to assess the threat.

Three options will be considered on a per-threat basis.

First, a determination that no further response is needed will be considered. Second, no evacuation will be ordered but the building will be locked down and searched by limited law enforcement. Finally, evacuation and total response could be considered. Other responses could be implemented as situations demand.

“Recently, it’s been kids having problems, detention and that sort of thing, striking back,” Boone said, “We’re not going to react the same way. They’re not going to get out of class.”

It’s a felony crime to make a bomb threat, Graham said, so this is a law enforcement issue. It doesn’t need approval, but school district officials were included so there was no major issue with the changes.

“The district wants everyone to feel comfortable with the policy changes,” said School Board Chair David Brinkman. He deferred to law enforcement professionals to make policy decisions regarding their response to situations, but urged community members to make their concerns heard at the Dec. 4 meeting.

“Four people will be asked to make the decision,” Brinkman said, regarding the need to evacuate students in the case of a threat. “Are we comfortable asking our administrators to make that decision?”

“We need to get as much info as we can before we make big decisions,” said BCMS principal David Miles II.

Since the board has not accepted the changes, he says they will still be doing evacuations until the policy can change at the next board meeting, Dec. 9 at Valley View.

Miles is frustrated by something he feels is not truly an ongoing problem, or something that warrants a policy change.

“It’s a big deal though,” Miles says, “We have to call parents, and notify law enforcement for something we know or believe to be fake. But if it is real, we can’t be that one school that didn’t evacuate.”

Although a principal is ready to make life or death decisions in their position, Miles says, this kind of decision is on a whole different scale.

“Safety of the kids is our number one concern and priority at all times,” he says. “We need to keep them safe from bullying or bombs, or even the psychological harm of a bomb threat.”

Miles says he feels comfortable making a decision the community supports.

“This is a very big and convoluted decision,” he said, “It’s a very important meeting for people to show up to voice their opinion.”

The most recent pair of threats have been traced back to a single suspect, Boone said. The first was written on a bathroom wall, and the second in a detention room with only three students. One student was identified at both scenes, Boone said.

Without commenting too much on the ongoing investigation, Boone said the department likely doesn’t have enough evidence to charge an individual in the case, but that they had been suspended from school and were facing expulsion. The second threat came just as first responders were considering this response change, and for that reason, a very short search followed an evacuation just before the final bell Nov. 12.

The department is going to a “shelter in place” lock down in most cases to determine the threat is credible, Boone said. An evacuation may be ordered only if there is enough to warrant further escalation.

“We’re not going to play their game anymore,” Boone said.