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 two times per 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 the ever-changing advancements in the explosives field. Claassen and Harris all attended the Region 3 International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators conference in Downers Grove, Illinois, in September 2008. Sgt. Hagen attended a three-day class on Bomb Squad Policy in Huntsville, Alabama. 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 rendering safe procedures. We also do 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, and three of our members are certified as explosive breachers. The Bomb Squad currently 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 four incidents in the Sioux Falls area in 2008. This does not include assist cases with other agencies or cases involving old military ordnance that is turned in or recovered. We also were tasked with covering service to southern Minnesota during the Republican National Convention.

In 2008 we received a new X-ray system and also a wireless robot upgrade.