**LEAD STORY**
Twelve members make up the Chicago Police Department Bomb Squad. The unit considers themselves close-knit and they get to deal with constant training, sophisticated tools and dark humor about bomb scares that range from the truly bizarre to the truly terrifying.
According to 45-year-old Marty Gavin, a member of the bomb squad, members of the unit must keep informed about the latest in electronic gadgetry, as well as have nerves of steel. Gavin, who has been a CPD officer for 20 years and a member of the Bomb Squad since 1989, said that his job has become more complex in this era of terrorist bombings, like the one that occurred at the World Trade Center in New York City and with the emergence of a high-tech Unabomber. Gavin said that the CPD Bomb Squad are studying the Unabomber's devices and modus operandi.
The unit is headquarted in a small office on the South Side of the city. Their office is called, "The Bat Cave." In the Bat Cave, the bomb squad spends much time training, studying and conducting research. When you enter the Bat Cave, you immediately notice the torpedo that hangs from the ceiling. On shelves you see hand grenades, rockets and other types of bombs. This is not your typical office.
Toward the back of the office is a workshop. In the workshop, Officer Gavin and his colleagues reconstruct bombs and make their own tools.
According to Special Agent Jerry Singer of the Chicago office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Illinois ranks second, behind California, in the number of bombings. The number of bombings in the State of Illinois has risen by 66 percent in recent years. In 1990, there were 275 reported bombing incidents. In 1994, the figure had risen to 457.
According to ATF statistics, bombings in the United States, on a whole, have risen 49 percent in the past five years. In 1990, there were 3,541 reported bombing incidents in the U.S. That number rose to 5,290 in 1994.
Special Agent Singer said, "The materials have always been available to make the devices, but we're seeing more and more people now willing to sit down and make them."
The Unabomber has forced bomb technicians to rethink the way that they would disarm a suspicious package. According to Gavin, before the Unabomber came along, "We'd be more inclined to just blow it up." But, today, bomb experts would try very hard to "surgically" disable the bomb without destroying its packaging or circuitry. They would like to keep the device intact so that it could be used for evidence and training.
The Chicago Bomb Squad is called out on an average of six times a week. They'll go out and handle anything from firecrackers that have exploded inside a mailbox to a remote- control bomb used in a car or building.
The explosive device that they are most familiar with is -- the pipe bomb. Pipe bombs are easy to make, according to Officer Gavin. Gavin said that pipe bombs are usually nothing like you see in the movies, where if you cut the wrong wire -- it explodes.
When the present CPD bomb squad was first created about 20 years ago -- the bomb technicians didn't have much in the way of equipment and tools. The technicians were forced to rely upon their street smarts and a very simple device called a "jerkus rope" to dispose of bombs.
The "jerkus rope" is exactly what it sounds like and is still used today as a last resort in handling suspicious devices or packages. Very simply, the jerkus rope is a long piece of rope that a bomb technician loops around a suspicious package. The rope is stretched out and then "jerked" to see if the package explodes. Officer Ron Harris of the Bomb Squad said that there has been instances, in the past, where one end of the jerkus rope is attached to the suspicious package and the other end was tied to the rear bumper of a car and they would hit the accelerator.
Bomb Squad members still carry the jerkus rope. But, luckily, today, they have many more sophisticated tools that they can now rely upon. Some of these tools include: X-ray machines, robots, bomb-sniffing dogs and a device with a science fiction sounding name of "disruptor." A disruptor can fire water or slugs at a package with pinpoint accuracy and is supposed to be able to break apart the circuitry of an explosive device.
The bomb technicians prefer to disarm a bomb from a distance. 200 feet away is ideal and lessens the chance of any injury should a bomb explode. Gavin said, "Most people have the impression that there's actually a hands-on physical clipping of wires. We would only do that in a life-or-death situation. Most of our techniques are remote. Whether it's a package bomb or a car bomb, we are expected to do something. There really hasn't been anything where we haven't had options."
When the Bomb Squad goes out on a call, they approach each situation in the same way -- "It's a bomb until we determine it's not a bomb." The officers see much in the way of hoaxes and false alarms. They've been called out to look at paperweights that look like hand grenades and carrots that look like dynamite. Gavin says that his job "is kind of a black art. There is a kind of mystique to it, about how bombs are made and how they are rendered safe."
In November of 1995, Gavin and his partner were called to the Dirksen Federal Building to investigate a suspicious package that was sent to a federal judge from a prison inmate. The bomb technicians X-rayed the package and were able to determine that it was indeed a crude bomb, of some type. They disabled the device by using a high-powered jet of water from the disruptor.
On a cold Christmas Day, a few years ago, Gavin was sent to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to check on a plane that was forced to land when a note was found on a tray on the jet that said, "There's a bomb on the plane. You're dead."
At O'Hare, the plane was evacuated and Gavin had to go aboard to look for a bomb. No bomb was ever found. Gavin said, "It's kind of an eerie feeling. These people are counting on you to kind of bless this plane and say it's alright. It bothered me the rest of the night. You have to dismiss it, but the thought is always there ... did I do enough?"
The most dangerous assignment that Gavin took in was on a night in 1992, when a car exploded at Division Street and Dearborn Street, located just north of Chicago's Loop. The bombmaker, who was a member of a motorcycle gang, was killed while transporting his own pipe bomb. After the initial explosion, another pipe bomb had rolled out of the wreckage of the vehicle and into the intersection. Gavin and other members of the Bomb Squad were called out to disable the device.
It took the bomb technicians about 20 minutes to render the device safe. Gavin remembers, "It was pandemonium that night. Everyone was in the bars. I thought it might be some kind of trap. Maybe someone in a bar would set it off by remote control."
The job also has it lighter moments. One time, Gavin's partner, Officer Harris, was sent to O'Hare Airport to check on a suspicious piece of luggage that was found in the terminal. The package was "beeping and undulating." The bomb techs X-rayed the suitcase and did not like what they saw. In the suitcase was an electronic device that was connected to wires and batteries. After carefully opening the suitcase they found their "bomb." The "bomb" was in reality a vibrating sex toy.
In another instance, a suspicious package was sent to the office of a Loop executive. A note was attached that said that the package contained the deadly E. coli bacteria. The Chicago Fire Department was first to arrive at the scene and they didn't know what to do about the package. So, they called for the CPD Bomb Squad.
Officer Gavin arrived and X-rayed the package. It was determined that the package did not contain a bomb -- at least not in the traditional sense. Gavin picked up the package and handed it to the fire department battalion chief. The chief then reportedly looked for some paramedics to help dispose of the biological hazard.
(c) Emergencynet News Service, 1996, All rights reserved.