Building cleared after suspicious envelope found
Authorities determined that a suspicious envelope found in the Hedco Neuroscience Building mailroom was not a threat after the area was evacuated for about an hour Tuesday afternoon.
The suspicious package was a brown oversized envelope that contained a magazine with an LED device inside, according to Department of Public Safety Capt. David Carlisle.
Junk mail · The Los Angeles Police Department and the USC Department of Public Safety responded to a report of a suspicious envelope in the Hedco Neuroscience Building Tuesday afternoon. The envelope turned out to be a magazine with an LED light inside. - Nathaniel Gonzales | Daily Trojan
At about 1:15 p.m. the person who discovered the package called DPS, Carlisle said.
DPS and the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad arrived on the scene and evacuated the building and the surrounding area. Sections of Downey and Watt ways were closed off during the evacuation.
“Out of excess caution, DPS closed the building and called LAPD,” James Grant, assistant vice president for media relations, said.
LAPD scanned the package and declared it safe. Hedco and the surrounding area was reopened at about 2:45 p.m.
“It all turned out well, except for a disruption of classes,” Carlisle said.
DPS sent out Trojan Alerts to the USC community during the incident. The alerts warned students, faculty and staff to stay away from the affected area.
A similar incident occurred in May, when a bomb threat was called into Leavey Library. That call was later deemed a hoax.
Kate Mather and Chloe Stepney contributed to this report.
The first rule of bureaucracy: self-preservation. Always justify your job. The Department of Homeland Security now employs 230,000 people. Link here: newsweek.com/2010/09/04/zakaria-why-america-overreacted-to-9-11.html
Hop over to Google news and type in ‘supicious package’ or ‘bomb threat’ and see how widespread all these false incidents truly are. Either the populace is shocked to the core with paranoia about ‘envelopes’ and cardboard boxes and the terrorists have won, or it’s something more. See below.
It was proven under the Bush administration that Homeland Security was stoking the fears of terrorism for political gain. This administration proves once again it is no different than the last in yet another way. Tom Ridge, former director of Homeland Security, admitted as much: crooksandliars.com/john-amato/tom-ridge-admits-terror-alerts-were-use
Great article. A lot of students where waiting to find out what happened and you delivered the goods, Thanks!
Hey, Tired of DHS, stop the paranoia. This was no drill, and USC is not inclined to want this type of media attention. There was no fearmongering here, just concern for your safety. What had to be done was done, everything turned out to be okay, and no one is afraid but you.
More likely than not someone had a midterm they didn’t want to take imo.
That’s a pretty serious accusation. Nothing wrong with taking extra caution.
Can we please stop with these stupid drills? We know that USC accepts money from Homeland Security. In turn, we allow them to run drills on campus. Check it out for yourself: create.usc.edu
You’re perpetuating a fear of terror amongst the students and faculty, and for what, a few extra federal dollars? Fearmongering is so below the Trojan family.