Friday, February 6, 2009

Bombs n' buses

I got a call from the radio room that one of the driver's had a suspicious package on her bus. I went around to take a look, she had parked up on Sunset Boulevard, one of the busiest parts of Los Angeles. Not her fault, there was nowhere to take the bus. She had got all the passengers off and onto another bus so when I got there the bus was empty and she was standing a respectable distance away.
I went on to take a look. There were two large toolboxes lying near the back seat. There were no wires protruding and no unusual odor coming from it. That's cool but I got out and told the driver "I'm not opening it." I called the radio room and requested police support.
In a few minutes a Deputy Sheriff came on the scene. I described the boxes and he went in the bus to take a look. He came out and said "I'm not opening it." He called his dispatcher and asked for a sniffer dog.
After a bit of a wait, during which the deputy arrested a guy walking past for drinking beer in the street and I'd better not talk about that because I may have to testify, along came the K-9 unit. A deputy got out and I described the boxes and their location. He decided to take a look himself before getting his dog out and he proceeded to dress in protective gear. While he was putting it on I mentioned that if it is a bomb then at least the dog could have him in bite-sized pieces. He paused from adjusting the strap on his helmet to tell me "We don't joke about that shit." Then he went in the bus. He came out and said "I'm not opening it." He went and got his dog.
The dog's name is Amor. He's an Alsatian, or a German Shepherd as they say in America. They went into the bus and I was half expecting Amor to come out and say "I'm not opening it." but everything turned out OK. The boxes were completely empty.
Before they left the Deputy gave me his business card and Amor had a business card too. It describes his interests as "Looking for the suicide bomber."
I might laugh and joke about these things but the truth is I appreciate these guys and I let them know.
The money hasn't been printed that could pay them for what they do.

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Los Angeles, California, United States