The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad is primarily responsible for the safe disposal of explosives and improvised explosive devices. Other duties include assisting post-blast crime scene investigation, educating the residential and business communities about bomb threat response, and participating in school and other public awareness programs concerning the dangers of illegal fireworks.
The Bomb Squad is comprised of Sheriff’s deputy Bomb Technicians who have completed the FBI’s 4-week HDS (Hazardous Devices School) training at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville Alabama. Assignment to the Bomb Squad is a collateral responsibility. Each team member has a primary assignment such as patrol, custody, or investigations.
Bomb disposal is a unique and highly specialized vocation requiring unique and highly specialized equipment. Our Bomb Squad is fortunate to have state-of-the-art resources including a portable x-ray, bomb suit with cooling unit, water cannon, explosives containment vessel and a variety of other equipment.
One of our most versatile pieces of equipment is our ANDROS Mark V-A Hazardous Response Robot (pictured above). In many situations, the use of this robot allows the Bomb Technician to safely remove and place an explosive device in the explosives containment vessel without ever having to enter the "kill zone". The robot can also be used to remotely x-ray a device or execute a remote "render safe" procedure.
Because of the danger associated with explosives disposal, training is ongoing. In addition to the basic HDS training, Bomb Technicians attend semi-annual HDS refresher training, monthly team training, periodic regional inter-agency training, and each year several members of the team join Bomb Squad members from 59 other countries at the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators international training conference.
Here are a few robots that are in use this day.