State Police Sweep For Bombs In Charleston
By ART LIMANN POSTED: January 26, 2009
While West Virginia State Police Bomb Squad Commander Cpl. Mike Fordyce didn't take part in security operations surrounding the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., he did spend some "very busy" days providing security at the inauguration events for Gov. Joe Manchin in Charleston.
"It was a long two days," Fordyce said from his Moundsville office. "We didn't finish until 1 or 2 in the morning."
He said law enforcement agencies receive invitations to assist in Washington, including his. However, the Moundsville detachment didn't send anyone.
"We had too many things going on here at the same time," he said. "People have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. There's a lot of security and planning that goes into these events. We broke into two teams, and we had help from the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, which helped."
Fordyce left for Charleston Jan. 17. On Jan. 18, he and his team did a security sweep of the church where the governor was to attend Mass.
"We generally get there an hour or two before he is scheduled to arrive to sweep and secure the buildings," he said. "We alternate, going from one site to another."
They also had to secure the center where Manchin was scheduled to have dinner.
On Jan. 19, Fordyce and his team checked another church prior to the governor's arrival for a Martin Luther King Day event, including a march. Then the Capitol and its grounds were secured, and finally the Charleston Civic Center was secured and locked down. The second team was in Martinsburg "sweeping" passenger and freight trains heading to Washington for the presidential inauguration.
"Basically, anything going into D.C. is swept that day," he said.
According to Fordyce, his teams use both dogs and visual inspections. They also have robots at their disposal if needed. No ordinance of any kind was found during his weekend searches.
Fordyce has been a member of the State Police bomb squad for about eight years, four years as an assistant commander and the last three as commander.
"We're extremely busy," he said. "We make about 190 runs per year because it's a rural state."
"We do a lot of other stuff, too," he continued, "public speaking, teaching, threat assessment and anything that deals with homeland security. We do all the big events where the governor is. Election years are bad for us because we do all the candidate visits. We'll get a break now for four years, unless the president comes to visit."
The bomb squad is a unit of the special operations division of the State Police. Other units include the Special Response Team, Aviation, K9s and Highway Interdiction. The bomb squad also does diving details.
"We're one of only a few bomb squads trained for underwater assignments," Fordyce said.
Home 