City Hall's bomb training, equipment gets put to use

City Hall's bomb training, equipment gets put to use

JAKARTA (JP): The City Hall office complex received another
bomb threat on Monday morning but discovered it was only a hoax
thanks to its trained personnel and newly purchased metal
detectors and bomb disposal containers.

Speaking to reporters, head of the city's Control Center for
Social Disturbances Raya Siahaan explained that after receiving a
mysterious call at 7:45 a.m., City Hall security officers managed
to handle the situation on their own without having to call the
police's bomb squad.

"Today, we have handled the threat with our own resources and
equipment to prove that it was only another hoax," Raya said,
referring to last week's situation in which the bomb squad was
called out twice to examine the entire complex following threats
from unidentified callers.

He gave no further details about the Monday's bomb threat.

According to Raya, a total of 148 security officers at the
City Hall complex, which is also home to the Jakarta governor's
office, had received four days of special training at the police
Bomb Squad Headquarters since last Friday.

They were trained how to anticipate bomb threats, evacuate
people and comb areas believed to have been planted with any
explosive devices.

"Fifteen of them received special training on how to handle
and disarm explosive devices," Raya said.

As planned, the city administration is believed to have spent
hundreds of millions of rupiah from the city budget for the
procurement of, among other things, two metal detectors, two
explosive detectors, two bomb disposal containers and a suit of
bulky body armor to be used by an officer assigned to collect and
place suspected bombs into the container or dispose of them.

Raya refused to disclose the total spending, and the party or
country the city administration purchased the goods from.

"The city administration plans to buy 10 more explosive and
metal detectors, some of which will be given to each of the
(city's five) mayoralty (offices)," he said.

The 21-story City Hall building has received several bomb
threats since the powerful Sept. 13 bombing at the Jakarta Stock
Exchange building, in which 11 people were killed and dozens
others wounded.

Separately, Governor Sutiyoso underlined that the city
administration had no other choice but to purchase the equipment
due to the increasing numbers of threats to his office.

"It does not cost that much, and it is necessary for us to
maintain security at the office so every employee can work well
without being scared of bomb threats," Sutiyoso contended.

Like Raya, the governor also refused to reveal the price of
the security devices.

But a security guard at a shopping center, which also uses
heavy equipment for its security, said most of the devices were
brought from the police.

A metal detector, for example, costs Rp 7 million (US$795),
while others are sold at hundreds of millions of rupiah each.
(dja)