LIHU‘E — An early morning bomb threat disrupted business for more than an hour at 5th Circuit Court Wednesday. A call indicating that an explosive was in the court house came in around 7:40 a.m., according to a court staff
LIHU‘E — An early morning bomb threat disrupted business for more than an hour at 5th Circuit Court Wednesday.
A call indicating that an explosive was in the court house came in around 7:40 a.m., according to a court staff member standing outside of the building.
After members of the Hawai‘i State Sheriffs Department swept the building, the threat was deemed not credible.
The doors to the courthouse do not open to the public until 7:45 a.m., but a few dozen court staff members had to be evacuated from the building.
Due to wet weather conditions, the staff members waited under the awning of the County Transportation Agency building, instead of evacuating to Vidinha Stadium.
The bomb scare delayed the court calendars of Chief Judge Randal Valenciano and Judge Kathleen Watanabe, plus the District Court and Family Court calendars.
County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said that individuals contemplating making a bomb threat should keep in mind there is no such thing as truly anonymous communication in this day and age.
“The technology exists to identify and locate these individuals, and when apprehended, we will pursue all appropriate charges, including felony terroristic threatening charges,” Kollar said.
These situations inconvenience public servants, but also the ordinary people who come from all over the island to conduct business at the courthouse, he added.
“Creating these situations is a disrespectful, expensive and a dangerous act,” Kollar said. “It is unacceptable in our society and cannot be tolerated.”
County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said the Kaua‘i Police Department did not investigate the incident as the Judiciary Building falls under the jurisdiction of the Hawai‘i State Sheriffs Department.
“KPD received the initial call at 7:45 a.m. and responded, but the sheriffs had already initiated the investigation/response and KPD’s assistance was not needed,” Blane said.
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said that threats are taken seriously, even in the case of a false alarm. Even though the court was not yet open, deputy sheriffs were able to sweep the facility and determine that the called-in threat was not credible.
“We take all threats seriously,” Schwartz said. “Sheriff deputies took immediate precautions, using standard operational procedures to make sure there was no actual threat.”
If K9 dogs had alerted to the presence of an explosive then the sheriffs would have reported a credible threat situation, and the SWAT team would responded to handle a full alert, she said.
