rap #98 05/17/10
OCEAN COUNTY TRAINING CENTER HOSTS FBI BOMB SAFETY SEMINAR FOR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS AND CORPORATE SECURITY
SOMETIMES THE BEST security comes from the man in the street or the store clerk at the local hardware store.
That was one message brought home by federal officers during a daylong bomb and explosive safety seminar at the
Ocean County Training Academy in Waretown on May 14.
Experts from the FBI, Homeland Security and other federal agencies instructed nearly 200 public and private first
responders on the dangers posed by homemade explosives.
“We were very, very pleased that the FBI chose our state-of-the-art Training Academy to host this important
program,” said Freeholder John P. Kelly, Director of Law & Public Safety for Ocean County. “Too many times we’ve seen the
death and destruction brought about by a single lunatic armed with a homemade bomb.”
Kelly said the recent near-tragedy in Times Square shows the dangers posed by bombs than can often be pieced
together with materials bought at any hardware store.
FBI instructors stressed the importance of educating the general public about the warning signs of a would-be
terrorist.
“We want to get out the word that if people see something suspicious they need to pick up the phone,” said FBI
Special Agent Chris White. “If that store clerk at Home Depot or Lowes talks with someone who wants to buy 500 pounds of
fertilizer, we need to know about it.”
White said the Bureau hosted the event in Ocean County because the Training Center provided the “perfect
location.”
“This really fit the bill for the kind of instruction we wanted to get done today,” he said. “Ocean County has
really been great to us.”
Although the FBI has run nearly 20 similar seminars, this was the first in New Jersey and attracted students from
around the state and Northeast.
White said the seminar was not a result of the attempted Times-Square bombing but had in fact been set up weeks
earlier.
“What happened in New York does make it very timely,” he said.
Among the students were emergency responders from local police departments, fire departments and first aid squads,
Ocean County Sheriff’s Officers, the Fire Marshall’s Office, Prosecutor’s Office and the Ocean County Security Department.
Six Flags, the NHL and the NBA were among the corporate attendees.
“We are very pleased that Ocean County and the Training Center can play a role in the defense of our nation,”
Kelly said. “We will continue to work closely with all of our state and federal agencies to help ensure the safety of all
of our residents.”
