Explosive Situation : When Bomb Squad Is Called, Police Car Lot Is No Place for a Briefcase

The next time you leave your briefcase lying around a police station, make sure it’s labeled--otherwise it might get blown up.

That’s exactly what happened Thursday when Sgt. Horace Frank of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division spotted an unmarked briefcase in the station’s parking lot.

After numerous computer messages went out to squad cars and no one claimed the nondescript brown case, the LAPD’s bomb squad was called in.

Two houses and part of the police station were evacuated for more than an hour while the three-person bomb squad figured out what to do with the briefcase, which happened to be sitting on top of a block wall next to the watch commander’s parking space.

Using a special rifle, they shot the case, leaving a hole the size of an apple. That is common practice, they said, when suspicious objects are found at or near police stations.

“We treat it as if it’s an explosive or a bomb, until we determine it’s not,” said Lt. Steven Allen, a member of the bomb squad.

As it turned out, the briefcase belonged to an LAPD traffic officer who had gone home.

Police would not identify the officer because they said he might be disciplined for not appropriately labeling his briefcase. All personal possessions must bear the officer’s name, Lt. Winthrop Taylor said.

Sgt. David Twitchell recalled a similar incident last Christmas when the bomb squad was called out to investigate a tin can discovered sitting on the hood of a police car.

The bomb squad determined the can was harmless and opened it, finding a batch of cookies from neighbors who wanted to show their appreciation for two officers who had helped them.

That tense situation could have been avoided if the neighbors had simply left a note of thanks, Twitchell said.