February 25, 2017
The officer in charge of the Detroit Police Bomb Squad has a request: Please don’t bring hand grenades to the police station.
It happens several times a year, most recently in Hamtramck on Feb. 10, when a woman brought two vintage grenades into the building that houses City Hall and the police station, said Sgt. Matt Taylor. The devices were later determined to be inert, he said.
“Usually, it’s some sweet old lady who was cleaning out her uncle’s basement; he was a military veteran who brought home a grenade, and she brings it to the precinct,” Taylor said.
“We want people to know: If you find something like that, treat it as an emergency. Leave the area immediately and call 911 — don’t bring it to us.”
Dealing with errant hand grenades is only part of an increasingly hectic workload for Taylor and his crew. The Bomb Squad responded to a record number of calls last year, he said, adding he couldn’t for tactical reasons disclose how many times the crew was dispatched or how many officers are in his unit.
“We broke the old record in September, and just kept going,” said Taylor, whose unit responds to bomb threats in several Metro Detroit communities, while also monitoring special events and investigating illegal fireworks.
“We had about 60 percent more calls than the previous record,” Taylor said. “Over the past five years, we’ve seen a steady increase in our call volume.”
Taylor attributed the increase to more citizens calling in suspicious packages. “It’s not that there are more bombs out there; it’s better awareness on the part of the public; and patrol officers and fire fighters as recognizing things as possible threats,” he said.
Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski said she was in a meeting when City Hall was evacuated after the woman brought the grenades into the building. Majewski said she once found a grenade while helping a friend clean a basement in West Bloomfield Township.
“The cops came out and looked at it, and said it was safe,” she said. “And we had a souvenir.”
Explosive collection
The bomb squad’s headquarters on Detroit’s east side houses a collection of artifacts found over the years that includes mortars; a homemade rocket launcher adorned with a red Olde English D; an 8-inch Howitzer shell; and a rusted World War I-era German projectile, one of four that turned up in June while a crew was demolishing a Corktown warehouse.
“Every one of these things has a story behind it,” Taylor said.
Depending on the situation, the squad will take a suspicious device to Rouge Park, or another safe area, to detonate it, although that’s not always feasible. Helping officers make that decision is the latest addition to the crew: Bri, a bomb-sniffing German Shepherd.
Bri, whose training was paid for by the Detroit Public Safety Foundation, is the first Detroit Police dog assigned to a bomb technician. In the past, if a dog found a bomb, it had to find a bomb tech and lead the officer to the device.
“Being assigned to the dog, I can get close to suspicious packages a lot quicker, and make immediate decisions, where others wouldn’t be able to,” said Bri’s handler, Officer Steve Murdock.
Most of Bri’s work involves sniffing suspicious packages, referred to by officers as unattended items.
“We can’t evacuate downtown every time someone puts a book bag down,” Taylor said. “But we can’t just do nothing. So we have to make a risk-management decision about what to do with unattended items. Bri helps with that a great deal.”
Officers must undergo two years of FBI training to be certified as bomb technicians. The job description has changed in recent years, with heightened concern about terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, Taylor said.
“Bomb squads have had to adapt,” said Taylor, who became a Detroit police officer in 1999 and assumed command of the bomb unit in 2010. “The trend is to be lighter, meaner and faster. We have lighter protective gear, because with a complex terrorist attack we have to have the capacity to move faster. That does increase the danger level to us, but that’s what we signed up for. The safety of the public is always the most important consideration.”
Most of the squad’s calls are to investigate unattended items, Taylor said. “That’s where someone left a backpack or book bag near a potential target area,” he said. “It’s typically downtown, where a lot of people are moving around. A lot of times, it’s a homeless person who left the backpack somewhere.”