Jun 6, 2013 3:48 PM
UPDATE, Thursday, 1:40 p.m.
Three letters delievered to Southampton Town Hall this afternoon with suspicious addresses have been declared safe, Detective Sergeant Herman Lamison said.
Det. Lamison opened the three letters, which were suspicious because they lacked a return address, shortly after three offices within Town Hall were cleared earlier this afternoon. It has been determined that the letters do not pose a threat and all offices within Town Hall have reopened.
UPDATE, Thursday, 1:32 p.m.
Police have no indication that there is anything dangerous emanating from the letters at this point, officials have confirmed.
According to Lt. Mohl, the Suffolk County Emergency Services team was called in purely as a precaution due to recent national events.
"We don't have any indication that there is anything dangerous or anything spilling out of them," Lt. Mohl said. "But in this climate these days we have to treat this kind of thing seriously, so we have Suffolk County Emergency Services coming out."
ORIGINAL STORY
Suspicious items of mail at Southampton Town Hall led to the shutdown of several offices, though not the entire building, early Thursday as hazmat crews, police and firefighters were summoned to deal with the situation.
Three letters delivered to Town Hall attracted suspicion because of the way they were addressed, according to Lieutenant Christopher Mohl of the Southampton Village Police Department. As a precaution, the mail room at Town Hall was shut down, and the human resources and business management office room was secured. There was no evacuation of the building.
Lt. Mohl said there was no visible evidence of hazardous contents, but as a precaution the area was secured and Suffolk County Emergency Services was called to remove the items.
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"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it."
Arnold H. Glasow
I don't think that I would be violating federal security laws if I suggested that all troublemakers should put a return address on their envelopes and packages if they expect delivery to occur as planned. Naturally, it would not be their own return address, but given the depths in rank to which our educational system has fallen and the heightened ...more level of moron-i-tude that recent graduates have attained, it would not surprise me if they did.
I can't wrap a Christmas present without tying my fingers in the knot. But I would imagine that, IF you are smart enough to handle something dangerous without killing yourself in the process (this is ONLY for discussion...do NOT try this at home), you should be able to MAIL IT PROPERLY, right?
Naturally, this causes the amateur sleuth in me to immediately deduce that it was sent by AN EMPLOYEE OF TOWN HALL.
Jay Schneiderman won't have a problem getting re-elected.
I am curious whether this has been codified in any way in the USPS Regs. or elsewhere?
Indeed, here:
"Suspicious items of mail at Southampton Town Hall led to the shutdown of several offices, though not the entire building, early Thursday as hazmat crews, police and firefighters were summoned to deal with the situation.
. . .
"According to Lt. Mohl, the Suffolk County Emergency ...more Services team was called in purely as a precaution due to recent national events."
[end quote]
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And these costs are a "no brainer" for you?
For every envelope which arrives without a return address?
The Dora balloon incident at Long Beach illustrates the power of the mind to "see" things which are not in fact happening (parachute, people kicking in the waves, people in the water, etc.).
Have we gone so far around the bend that we want our first responders reacting so quickly to events like ...more this?
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself?"
-- the Waldbaums incident above
-- the Dora balloons at Long Beach recently
-- the Town Hall envelope with no return address
No judgment about the 911 callers, but the costs of these emergency response teams must be kept on the radar screen. Our tax dollars pay for it all, in one way or another.
If we choose to stay blind to the cost side of the equation, ...more we ask for the risk of municipal bankruptcies all around IMO.
Municipalities around the country are going this privatization route, and the costs are shocking. Not to mention that certain rural areas are left without fire and ambulance services, because no private company will cover them.
God forbid there was a harmful substance in the letter or an explosive device in a package - wouldn't you rather have a HazMat team and fire dept's. on hand? Or would you rather ...more have an incident occur and then have responders scrambling to the scene? I'd assume many of you would be chastising them for not being prepared.
There's protocol and procedure for events like this and the cops are already on the clock. It's not a "waste" of tax dollars when volunteer fire fighters show up!
NO OTHER dangerous aspect of the envelope or evidence of threat has been cited IMO. Indeed, I believe Det. Sgt. Lamison opened the envelopes before any other agency inspected them. Correct?
Elsewhere a Town Hall employee is quoted as saying this was a tempest in a teapot.
Would you suggest any improvements to the "protocol for dealing with ...more this stuff" or guidelines for those in the chain of command?
Again, the basic question is the same for you and KevinLuss: should every envelope with no return address prompt the same response?
My (educated) guess is that personal letters to Town Hall without return addresses are exceedingly rare. To get three (and if they are addressed to council people) is cause for concern, and as the article states based on recent events there is ...more the slightest chance that there's something harmful in them.
Remember the car packed with explosives in Times Square that how many hundreds (thousands?) of people walked by without saying anything? It took one person to say, hey this doesn't look right, let me alert the authorities - for the situation to be dealt with properly, potentially saving many from injury or death.
PBR - talk to me when this incident happens again and again in our Town. Then we can have a discussion about protocol, teapot dwelling tempests and the like.
"All we have to fear is fear itself."
IMO
Have a nice weekend . . .
Recent expansions of the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign include partnerships with numerous sports teams and leagues, transportation agencies, ...more private sector partners, states, cities and universities. DHS also has Public Service Announcements which have been distributed to television and radio stations across the country. The campaign will continue to be expanded in the coming weeks and months.
That four trill' really could have been put to good use easing the burden on the local taxpayer.
BTW you do realize that we still can't mail packages over a certain weight thanks to a bomber from 20 years ago. I am not for or against but i do marvel at our ability to rail against disappearing personal freedoms at the time only to readily accept them like sheep years later. See passports, TSA, mailing weights, tamper proof seals etc. I'd be these costs in total over the last ...more several decades far exceed the cost of any war.
Problem is, the cost of a war includes more than just the dollars expended. Much more, like blood, gore, crippling, lost lives, property damage, shock, battle fatigue, ...more et al. There's not a bit of that with the passports, TSA, etc. route. Makes it a no-brainer for me.
BTW, I'm with you on the easy solution -- no delivery w/out a return address -- absolutely.
Sounds simple, but the devil may be in the details, and more expensive than the current situation IMO.
-- a real return address?
-- who verifies?
-- who assesses the accuracy of the address?
-- suppose the address has a street name, but no number?
-- suppose the return address is overseas, and/or in a different language?
-- etc.
-- what happens with all the envelopes with no return addresses?
-- does an envelope with an "acceptable" ...more return address get a free pass?
-- or do we start all over again, and assess the safety of the envelope on its own?
-- if so, why are we rejecting the very low percentage of blank return addresses?
Would this really save money?
Come on people, you can do better than this!