Community Safety

Division of Student Life

Emergency Procedures: Bomb Threat

If you observe a suspicious object

  • Do not handle the object
  • Immediately clear the area and/or the building.
  • When a Community Safety Officer arrives, follow their instructions.

If you receive a bomb threat by phone

  • Note the telephone number on the caller I.D.
  • Call community safety (extension 7533) immediately after you are disconnected, but first attempt to obtain as much information as possible and take notes if you can. 

Ask the caller:

  1. When is the bomb going to explode?
  2. Where is it right now?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. What kind of bomb is it?
  5. What will cause it to explode?
  6. Did you place the bomb?
  7. Why?
  8. Who are you?
  9. Where are you?

Remember as much as you can about the voice

Would you call it . . .
  • male? female?
  • calm? angry? excited?
  • slow? rapid?
  • soft? loud?
  • laughing? crying?
  • youthful? elderly?
  • accented? slurred? nasal?
  • stuttering? lisped?
  • raspy? deep? breathy? cracking?
  • disguised? familiar to you?

Try to note if there are background sounds such as:

  • street noises
  • machinery or vehicles
  • animal noises
  • music
  • static or hollowness associated with cell or speaker phones

Try to note the exact words of the threat and the tone of the message. Is it . . .

  • well-spoken?
  • foul or vulgar?
  • taped?
  • in street talk?
  • read from a script?