Sep 22, 2009 10:27 am US/Pacific
Experts Teaching Local Officers How To Spot Bombs
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Federal bomb experts who have dealt with deadly explosives all over the world have lent their expertise to local law enforcement agencies and airport security personnel who are tasked with identifying bombs before they can wreak havoc.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives brought a crowd of officers and security personnel to a Nevada desert to demonstrate how easily high explosives can be hidden and disguised.
"If you didn't know the difference, you'd think it was Play Doh," said one instructor who would not give his name for security reasons.
Agents have seen all types of everyday items that have camouflaged bombs capable of causing serious damage.
"We had a guy that took tennis balls and made bombs of out them," another instructor explained to fellow agents. "He went to a dog park and laid these out all over the dog park, so that when people came out there walking their dogs, the dog comes up grabs the ball… boom. Dog's gone, so is the handler."
For that reason, the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives takes everyone from local police to even airport security personnel out into the desert to see how easy it is to hide explosives.
"They can see them in books and literature," said ATF Special Agent Nina Delgadillo. "It's quite different to see them in person, to touch it, to hold it… to see the catastrophic effects it can have,"
Just this past July, investigators were able to successfully smuggle bomb parts past checkpoints at 10 federal buildings, revealing gaping holes in security. Many of the ATF instructors got their experience investigating bombings in Iraq and are now passing on what they learned to local police and airport security.
"You learn a lot about the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and the things that are being used over there which could eventually make their way here," an instructor said. "We hope they don't but there's always a chance."
In the Nevada desert, agents taught first responders how to determine the difference between a bar of soap or plastic explosive; a spool of cable or detonator cord; cardboard or explosives.
It doesn't take much. A small bundle of detonator cord that looks like clothesline and is about the thickness of pencil was bundled into a suitcase and detonated on the range. The shredded remains of the suitcase were scattered across the landscape, and a nearby cardboard cutout of a man was disintegrated from the waist down.
One of the latest ATF training lessons is on homemade explosives:
How criminals make them and how to recognize a lab If they run across it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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