Bomb Squad

The Sioux Falls Police Department Bomb Squad currently has five members assigned to the team. They are Sgt. Tim Hagen, Officer James Claassen, Detective Scott Timmerman, Officer Jason Fatone, and Sgt. Jon Harris from the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office.

The team trains twice a month to keep up on the skills necessary to perform our mission as safely as possible. In addition to monthly training, team members attend outside training to keep up on changing advancements in the explosives field. This year Timmerman and Harris attended the International Bomb Technicians and Investigators in-service training in Omaha, Nebraska. Hagen and Claassen both attended the 40-hour recertification training in Huntsville, Alabama. Fatone had been deployed overseas with the military for most of 2010. The bomb squad was involved in several training scenarios for the Department of Homeland Security and also gave an explosives demonstration to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The team is responsible for dealing with calls regarding suspicious packages and explosives calls. We handle post-blast investigations and evidence collection at explosive crime scenes in addition to render safe procedures. We also provide classroom instruction to other officers and to the Citizens’ Academy. The team is also available to assist the SWAT team with the use of the robot for searching and surveillance. Currently, three of our members are certified as explosive breachers. The bomb squad has mutual aide agreements with the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The agreement with the ATF allows the team to respond to incidents across South Dakota and into Iowa and Minnesota if necessary.

The team has responded to numerous incidents in the Sioux Falls area and eastern South Dakota to include assisting DCI on a call near Sisseton where numerous improvised explosive devices and incendiary components were rendered safe.