Bomb Threatens Courthouse and Provincial Ministries : Bomb Squad Takes 11 Hours to Show Up

Last night at 7PM, an odd device was discovered in the downtown of Victoria, the BC Provincial capital. The police cordoned off the area for a one block radius around the intersection of Blanshard and Courtney. Included in that radius: Provincial courthouse, main public library, the head offices for Ministry of Transportation and Highways and several other businesses.

The police called on the bomb squad from Vancouver. They arrived 11 hours later. Many there was a theory that the bomb was running on a watch battery and it would give up the ghost before the bomb squad arrived. Or, the bomb squad didn't like the previously mentioned organizations and thought 11 hours would be enough time for the bomb to go off. Way to protect the public.

Why can we not have back our own bomb squad? Victoria had a team available in 1990s, but the military discontinued that support. In the era of terrorism and activism, you'd think the government capital for a province of 4.5 million people would have it's own response team. Or, if a city lacked its own team that the bomb squad would take less than ELEVEN hours to make it over when the plane ride over is approximately 30 minutes.

Comments

Unknown said…
We discussed this over coffee today and suggested reasons for the overnight delay were (1) not wanting to pay the bomb squad overtime; (2) that Victoria does not, in fact, "matter" -- perhaps to do with our propensity for electing NDP MLAs (3) that if the squad waited long enough, the bomb would go off on its own and save them a trip.

All of this still adds up to feeling pretty unsafe in the face of local and global wackos.
5/22/2009 11:11:00 AM
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