Bomb Squad Works To Diffuse

The X-rays of the bomb looked wrong.

Cpl. Kerry Pippin and Sgt. Luke Rosebaugh of the Bentonville Police Department leaned closer to the 32-inch TV screen connected to the computer to get a better look. If the image is wrong, they might not be able to diffuse the bomb. It might explode. Someone could get hurt.

Pippin and Rosebaugh are part of the Bentonville Bomb Squad — a team of four men who are dive-certified bomb technicians who make up the only squad in Benton and Washington counties.

The group is among six squads in Arkansas and covers 17 Northwest Arkansas counties. The next closest squad is in Fort Smith.

On a cold December morning, Pippin and Rosebaugh ran through a training scenario where they identify and defuse a bomb. They have to come up with a strategy. They must work together.

The ongoing training is supposed to prepare the squad for the next time a bomb is real, said Michael Meadors, squad commander.

The unit has deactivated four bombs — or improvised explosive devices — this year, Meadors said.

Before that, the team had several high-profile cases, including a bomb built into an open soft drink can and left at a Bentonville polling place in 2010. The device could have killed people, Rosebaugh said.

“A small amount of explosives can do an extensive amount of damage,” Rosebaugh said. “It’s a big eye-opener.”

The most recent incident happened last month. The squad was called in after a man used firework parts and a fuse to make an explosive device in a Mountain Dew bottle at Premium Brands NWA at 1601 E. Pump Station Road in Fayetteville.

The man said he was making a bomb for a friend, but later said he was making a firework, said Sgt. Craig Stout, Fayetteville police spokesman.

The squad deactivated the bomb. The case was recently turned over to the prosecutor for review, but remains open, Stout said.

“For this (squad) to be in Northwest Arkansas is a great thing,” Meadors said. “You just never know when the next event will happen.”

‘The Long Walk’

Pippin spent more than an hour walking slowly in a blast suit — an 80-pound green suit and helmet reminiscent of an astronaut’s suit. It’s meant to protect the officer if the bomb detonates, Meadors said.

Squad members call the tedious walks, like what Pippin made, “the long walk.”

It’s hot in the suit. The tools and suit can add up to 120 pounds the officer carries. And, the walk is toward what could be an explosive device.

Pippin walked from the Bomb Squad’s 40-foot Pierce response truck, down a dusty driveway, into the old house beneath the Bentonville water tower, down a narrow hall and into a bedroom where a small hardcover box sat near a window. He made the trip twice to get two X-rays of the box. He also made another round trip to X-ray a bag that officers discovered contained bricks.

Back in the squad’s bus, the X-rays of the box are merged on a computer to reveal the bomb.

By mid-December, the squad received 31 calls to check possible bombs in 2013, Meadors said. The unit is among the most active in the state — getting more calls than Conway, Fort Smith or Arkansas State Police, he said.

Despite the call volume, three officers aren’t full-time squad members. They’re on the squad because they love it, they said, but the training, preparation and calls to duty make the squad a second full-time job, Rosebaugh said.

When not doing squad work, Pippin reconstructs accidents for the Police Department. Rosebaugh is a patrol shift supervisor. Cpl. Josh Carlson is school resource officer at Fulbright Junior High School.

Meadors serves on the squad full time.

Meadors wants the squad to have six members and eventually make positions full time, he said.

The trend is squads nationwide are seeing more bombs and calls, not fewer, Meadors said. In the future, being on the squad could be a full-time job, he said.

“When there’s a need — a call for service day or night — we stop what we are doing and go to help,” Meadors said.

Meadors was promoted to commander after Russell Hinds retired in October. That reduced the squad from five men to four, but he hopes the department will hire a replacement. If the position is filled, the new recruit won’t be fully certified until 2016, Meadors said.

“What we do is extremely important,” Rosebaugh said. “(Bomb makers) think they can make these things to destroy people’s lives, but there is an entity that can do something about it — and that’s the bomb squad.”

Meadors and Carlson listened to Pippin and Rosebaugh talk about the X-rays of the box. One of the images was upside down, so Rosebaugh flipped it. The image becomes clear with the X-rays revealing sinister wires and batteries.

Meadors built the bomb with everything but the explosives, he said. He made the bomb so he can tell if Pippin and Rosebaugh fail to defuse the bomb correctly, Meadors said.

Pippin and Rosebaugh said they could bring out one of the squad’s robots, but the hallway is narrow, and even the small robot weights 500 pounds.

Pippin suits back up to deactivate the bomb.

Family

Squad members tease each other about everything from an officer eating all the favorite candy of another team member to catching each other’s skin in zippers.

But when the calls come in, the group becomes serious, Meadors said. Each member knows the job is dangerous, he said. If their families knew how dangerous the jobs can be, they might be upset, the officers said.

When officers go home, they pretend everything is OK. Everything is normal, officers said.

Members don’t want to worry family, but they like the excitement, the challenge and the drive that comes with being on the bomb squad, they said. Pippin was hooked after he took an elective course where part of the class included exploding two cars.

“It’s a challenge, it’s exciting, and to be honest, it’s fun,” Carlson said. “It’s the greatest show on earth.”

It’s also never the same thing, Rosebaugh said. The squad has managed everything from a woman who had a fake bomb strapped to her leg in 2012 to harmless bags accidentally left behind.

“You push yourself to limits that you didn’t even know you could do,” Carlson said.

Squad members escort prominent figures such as Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and the Dalai Lama, Meadors said.

The squad also provides support to the Swat team, Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin wrote in an email. The city took over the squad from Springdale in late 2009, he said.

Bentonville pays for the squad with about $7,500 for minor equipment, plus Meadors’ salary, but most of the squad’s purchases this year were bought using a $482,522 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, McCaslin said.

What Bentonville pays to have the squad is worth it, McCaslin wrote.

“The Bomb Squad and its sophisticated resources afford an added layer of safety that few municipalities have access to,” McCaslin wrote. “The Bomb Squad makes our city and region a safer place to live.”

Back at the house, Pippin knelt before the bomb with an “energetic tool” the squad uses. When the “tool” goes off, it sounds like a bomb detonating.

Outside, Rosebaugh held a large remote control and waited for Pippin to get out of the house and back to the truck.

“Fire in the hole,” Rosebaugh yelled.

There was a loud “bang,” but none of the officers flinched.

“Good shot,” said Meadors, after looking at what was left of the training bomb. “That was a functioning device.”

“Not anymore,” Rosebaugh said.