Bomb Threat Procedures & Checklist

Why Bomb Threat Procedure Matters

A bomb threat is one of the highest-stress calls a security guard will ever handle. The threat may be a hoax intended to disrupt operations, a warning preceding a real device, or the act of someone in a mental-health crisis. You cannot know which at the moment the call comes in, so every threat is treated as real until police determine otherwise. Your job is not to investigate the motive or to find the device yourself — it is to gather information, notify the right people, support a controlled response, and protect life.

Phone Threats — Keep Them Talking

If you receive a bomb threat by phone, the single most important goal is to keep the caller on the line as long as possible. Every additional second is information. Speak calmly, do not challenge or argue, and ask planned questions.

Bomb-Threat Checklist (Phone)

Use this checklist in the moment. If your site has a printed card (many do), keep it next to every phone.

Do not hang up to call police even after the caller hangs up — leave the line open in case the caller returns, and use a second line or have a colleague call. Activate your site's bomb-threat recall code if one exists in your post orders, so staff begin response without alarming the public.

Written, Emailed, or Texted Threats

A written threat is physical evidence. Treat it accordingly:

• Preserve it exactly as received. Do not fold, crumple, write on, underline, or highlight it.
• Handle it as little as possible and only by the edges, to preserve fingerprints and forensic value.
• Place it in a clean envelope or document sleeve if one is available.
• Note the time and method of delivery — when it was found, where, who found it, and how it arrived (mail, fax, email, text, note left on a desk).
• For email or text threats, do not delete the message. Photograph the screen, save the message, and record the sender address or number, timestamps, and headers if visible.
• Notify police and site management immediately.

Notification — Who and in What Order

1. Police — Call 911 (or your site's emergency line). Report the threat type, time received, and any device location given.
2. Site management — Follow post orders for the chain of notification. This may be the on-site supervisor, the property manager, or a designated emergency contact.
3. Do not broadcast the threat over public address systems or to the media. Public panic creates evacuation hazards and interferes with police response.

Search Procedure

The decision to search is made by police and site management, not by the individual guard. When a search is initiated:

• Staff who know their own areas search them. A guard does not know what belongs in a stranger's office; the person who works there does. The most effective search is two-person teams familiar with the space.
• Search systematically — by floor, by zone, by room, working from the outside in or from the reported location outward, per the search plan.
• Look for anything out of place or unexplained — a package that should not be there, a bag with no owner, wiring that is new, an object in an odd location.
• Do not touch a suspected device. Do not move it, do not open it, do not shine a flashlight directly on it, and do not change anything in the room.
• Evacuate and isolate the area around any suspected device. Move people away and prevent entry.
• Open doors and windows in the evacuation zone only if your site policy and police direction call for it — venting can reduce blast pressure, but it can also create draft paths. Follow instructions.
• Follow the police lead. Once police are on scene, they control the search, the device, and the disposition.

Why Staff Search Their Own Areas

A bomb placed in an office is usually disguised as an ordinary object — a parcel, a briefcase, a box under a desk. A guard walking into that office for the first time cannot tell what belongs there and what does not. The employee who works at that desk can spot the unfamiliar item in seconds. This is why familiar-staff search is the standard, supported and coordinated by security and police.

Critical Safety Rules

• Do not use radios or cell phones near a suspected device. Radio-frequency (RF) energy from a transmitter can trigger some types of detonators. Maintain a distance defined by your site plan and police direction — commonly 100 meters or more.
• Do not pull a fire alarm to evacuate for a bomb threat unless your post orders specifically direct it. A fire alarm may move people through the area where the device is located. Use the evacuation method specified in the bomb-threat plan, which may be a coded announcement, personal notification by staff, or a different alarm tone.
• Do not turn light switches on or off in the vicinity of a suspected device — a spark from a switch can be an ignition source.
• Do not re-enter the building until police declare it clear.

After the Incident

Once the threat is resolved, document everything:

• A complete incident report with the time the call was received, the caller's exact words, the actions taken, who was notified, the search results, and the police disposition.
• The original bomb-threat checklist, attached to the report.
• Any written threat material, preserved for evidence and handed over to police per their direction.
• Names and contact information of witnesses and staff involved in the search.

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