Nitro detected on safe in car parked outside police station

By Brian Kelly • November 29, 2010 6:17 pm
Bainbridge fire and police personnel await the arrival of WSP-Bremerton's 'bomb squad' Monday after a woman brought a small safe to the police station that had traces of nitroglycerin detected on its exterior. The three-hour event delayed traffic on Winslow Way and State Route 305 until the empty safe was removed from the woman's vehicle (brown SUV's tailgate in background) and transported off the island.
Bainbridge fire and police personnel await the arrival of WSP-Bremerton's 'bomb squad' Monday after a woman brought a small safe to the police station that had traces of nitroglycerin detected on its exterior. The three-hour event delayed traffic on Winslow Way and State Route 305 until the empty safe was removed from the woman's vehicle (brown SUV's tailgate in background) and transported off the island.

Thanks to a new gizmo, Bainbridge Island Police avoided a potential difficult situation Monday afternoon by quickly identifying the presence of nitroglycerin and another high explosive on a safe a woman had innocently brought to the police station.

The woman drove a small Sentry safe to the station a little after 1 p.m., leaving the box in her SUV parked in front of the station off Winslow Way while talking to officers. She told them that the safe did not belong to her and had been placed in her carport on the south end of the island sometime Monday morning by an unknown person.

Officers, according to Commander Sue Shultz, twice tested the safe with a “hardened mobile trace detector,” which evaluates the presence of narcotics, chemicals and explosive materials such as nitro and TATP (triacetone triperoxide), both of which were detected by the machine. Obtained through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, the detector evaluated the material from a swab that had taken residue samples off the safe’s exterior.

The Washington State Patrol’s Bremerton bomb squad was called and arrived about two hours later, parking its mobile rig about 100 feet from the SUV. Police had placed two large snow-plow trucks loaded with sand between the vehicle and Olympic Drive, which was closed along with other nearby streets until about 3:45 p.m.

Two bomb experts, dressed with protective gear, found nothing in the safe after x-raying it for wires and other contents. They removed it from the vehicle and then placed it in a steel box on a trailer for transportation to a WSP depot, where it was opened. Nothing was found inside of the safe.

“We train for these kind of significant events and I think it went smoothly,” said Shultz. “We were helped by Poulsbo and State Police, and we also coordinated with the school district, Kitsap Transit and the ferry. We warned people the best we could, and as far as we know there weren’t a lot of complaints, which is good.”

But the drama was high for a couple of hours as police tape and barricades were placed around the police station at distances of up to about 500 feet. For precautionary purposes, State Route 305 was closed from Winslow Way to High School Road in both directions, as well as both sides of Winslow Way. Ferry traffic was also diverted and ferry unloading was delayed, with some cars diverted northbound on Ferncliff Avenue.

Bainbridge Det. Trevor Zimba said that while all went well during the event, it’s preferred by law enforcement officers that any suspicious objects or packages found by citizens should be left alone because moving them could be dangerous. Instead, he advised, people should immediately call police.