Bombs detonate to train new IUPD student officers

Following the command of “fire in the hole,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Chad Hilton, who serves as explosive ordinance disposal commander, pressed the detonator.

Moments later, dirt and rubble launched into the sky with a boom as 33 students in the IUPD Police Academy plugged their ears and felt the explosion’s shock wave pass their faces. Police academy students were trained how to handle a situation involving explosives during an explosives demonstration Wednesday in a grassy field off of IU’s Ridge Road, near the cross country course.

The class is designed to give academy students a general idea of what explosives are on the market for when they graduate and are officers on the street.

“The whole point of teaching this class is to make officers aware of what explosives can do, how they can hurt you and to make them aware not to touch them and not to move them,” said Indiana State Police Sgt. Rich Myers, who is a bomb technician.
“We want to train them to move the people away from the device, not the device away from the people. If the building goes down, so be it, but get the people out and take care of it.”

During the class, state police bomb technicians demonstrated how to utilize K-9 units trained to find explosives, how to spot different fuses, how to clear a building following a bomb threat and how different types of explosives work.

Bomb technicians demonstrated five different explosions to the cadets, ranging from a small blasting cap inside a coffee can to a larger explosive — a TNT Booster.

“We do have an occasional call of a suspicious object or package, and this just tells an officer what they should be doing when they come across it, so it’s really good training,” IUPD Chief Keith Cash said.