Posted on 01/21/2005 7:59:43 AM PST by SmithL
San Francisco International Airport authorities said Thursday they'll tighten rules for law enforcement exercises in a shuttered terminal after firefighters left behind three mock grenades and a replica handgun during a recent training.
SFO spokesman Mike McCarron said there was no security risk posed by the simulated weapons, because a janitor found them Wednesday in a locked room in the former international terminal that is closed to the public.
San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Pete Howes said members of a hazardous material team accidentally left behind the devices last month while training on how to handle suspicious devices discovered at a HazMat scene.
"The department's homeland security director is going to have someone in the future who's in charge of inventory control to makes sure that things aren't left behind,'' Howes said.
It's a federal offense for a member of the public to attempt to carry such devices past airport security checkpoints.
"I'm sure there's going to be a review of procedures to make sure that it doesn't happen again,'' McCarron said. "They're totally harmless, but they appear real.
"It's more of an accounting issue as far as keeping track of where these things are. It's up to the individual agency. They should keep track of these things,'' he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I had those in my youth when we played army. Compact dry dirt balls were the best (explode on impact) but rocks would do in a pinch...
Uh, okay. Someone tell me (1) how this is a problem and (B) why this is newsworthy (unless the underlying point of the story is that it's much ado about nothing, which I doubt).
We threw mousetraps at each other.
Are mock turtles an endangered species? I'd hate to hear of a mock turtle being blown up by one of these mock grenades.
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