Bomb squad arrives six hours later

By Meg Olson

A bomb that wasn’t a bomb has Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo worried that in a real emergency when seconds count, Point Roberts won’t get the help it needs when it needs it.

On July 3 an employee at Point-to-Point Parcel service opened a package that arrived in the mail without a name on it, only the address of the local parcel service. “It is their practice to open it and hold onto the item until someone comes in and asks for a parcel and they ask them to describe what was in it,” explained postal inspector Jim Vach.

What they found looked like a bomb: a cylindrical object with an electronic keypad attached. They removed the device from the store and called 911. Deputies responded at 10 a.m. and sealed off the area.
Elfo said his office first called the Bellingham Police bomb squad to respond and dispose of the device. “We were told there were no officers available,” he said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) sent a bomb disposal unit from Seattle to Blaine. Elfo said the decision was made for ATF agents and their equipment to travel to the Point by Coast Guard boat to avoid difficulties bringing special equipment and weapons through Canada.

A Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) van made rendezvous with them at the marina and they arrived at the scene of the bomb scare at approximately 4 p.m.

“In a situation that’s time sensitive, that’s critical, this is a real problem,” Elfo said. “It’s okay if you have the luxury of time, it’s okay if you have access to a boat, it’s okay with the weather this time of year, but it’s not always going to be okay.”

ATF assistant special agent in charge Doug Dawson said agents examined the device and determined it was not a threat. “They x-rayed it and realized it wasn’t anything more than a hoax so they left it intact for follow up,” he said. As a precaution the item was sprayed with a water cannon prior to being removed from the scene.

“It was a movie prop, a hoax device,” said Vach. Had employees of the parcel service opened the box from the top and not the bottom Vach said they would have found a note explaining what the device was. “It was a hoax and labeled that way but that warning wasn’t seen.”

Elfo said if it had been a real explosive device, or a bank robbery, a hostage situation, or any serious threat to public safety, a six-hour response time is not good enough. What needs to change, he said, is border policies from both nations that restrict public safety personnel and equipment.

Speaking to members of the House of Representatives committee on homeland security in Washington D.C. on July 12 Elfo used the incident to highlight the problems law enforcement face responding to Point Roberts emergencies. “The process now involves reporting to Customs Canada, waiting for the deputy’s name to be checked against a registry, unloading all firearms, securing the firearm in a locked container in the trunk of the police vehicle, driving through Canada, reporting to the U.S. port of entry, removing the weapon from the container in the trunk, reloading it and proceeding to the emergency. As you can imagine, this system is unworkable,” he testified, adding that current policies prevented the county’s special response team from crossing through Canada with needed special weapons and equipment.
Elfo added under the Western Hemisphere Travel initiative, a U.S. program that will require passports or other “secure travel documents” at land borders as soon as next summer, all sheriff’s deputies will need passports to ensure they can respond to an emergency on the Point. ”We’re not saying we’re above the law but this is something that needs to be addressed.”

Congressman Rick Larsen, who had invited Elfo to address the committee, said his office would look into ways to streamline border crossings for law enforcement. “Whatcom County law enforcement officers should be able to cross the border quickly and efficiently. We need to make sure that bureaucratic hurdles aren’t hurting their ability to do their jobs and keep Point Roberts safe,” he said.

Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) representative Paula Shore said a good first step would be a phone call. “This should never have been an issue. I checked and we didn’t receive a call, someone just assumed it would be a problem,” she said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) does keep a list of law enforcement personnel that can enter Canada while traveling on official business, she said, but any agency can get on the list by contacting the RCMP.

In a case like the recent bomb scare, Shore said CBSA would need a phone call telling the agency who was coming, with what and for what emergency. “Yes, there are policies but in an emergency it’s an emergency and all we need is a phone call. We were very concerned in this case they would think we wouldn’t help them in an emergency.”