Idaho Falls Police issuing reminder after grenade scare
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IDAHO FALLS — Some recent scares at the Bonneville County Law Enforcement Building have the Idaho Falls Police Department issuing a reminder to the public.
“Lately we’ve had people bring in explosive devices, black powder or ammunition that is deteriorated. They’re bringing it to the station with good intentions of turning it over to us,” Idaho Falls Police Sergeant John Marley tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The latest incident happened last month when someone brought a hand grenade to the police department hoping to dispose of it. Having explosive devices in the courthouse put many in potential danger and the bottom floor of the building had to be evacuated.
“We closed the doors to the courthouse and made sure nobody could enter before we had to evacuate the first floor of the courthouse,” Marley says. “People in other parts of the building were fine and they were able to shelter in place.”
Marley says a military team was contacted to dispose of the device. Bomb technicians secured the grenade and transported it in an explosive containment vessel. It took about thirty minutes from the time the device entered the building to the time it was en route to be disposed of.
“There’s a lot of public coming in and out of there on a daily basis and it puts all those lives at risk with an unknown explosive or military explosive device,” Marley says.
Within the last year, about five people brought in black powder or explosive devices. Sometimes members of the public will drop the items off at the front door.
“Sometimes they bring in ammunition that’s gone bad. They bring in old black, smokeless powder. Sometimes they bring in military ordnances that they’ve found – fireworks, pyrotechnics, etc.” Marley says. “We’ve had people try to bring in a number of these things to the law enforcement building.”
Marley says in order to keep the public safe, the best thing to do is call the police department to pick up any explosives that you may need to dispose of.
“If anybody has dynamite or blasting caps, old ammunition, old military ordnances, black powder and smokeless powder that they want to get rid of, they should contact us at (208) 529-1200,” Marley says.