Becky Robbins introduced the guest speaker, Deputy Sheriff Troy Bouckhuyt from the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Bouckhuyt is an investigator with the sheriff’s office, and also leads the Chautauqua County Hazardous Devices Unit (aka “the bomb squad”) in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties. He was trained at the FBI Bomb School and assists the Jamestown Police Department SWAT team. Deputy Bouckhuyt not only offered details about his job as a bomb squad technician, but also provided a demonstration of some of the equipment he uses in the field.
Deputy Bouckhuyt is a native of the area, growing up and attending school in Lakewood, before moving on to JCC and eventually getting hired with the Sheriff’s Office. Shortly after joining the Sheriff’s Office, Bouckhuyt was asked to become the county’s bomb technician, which he described as a “collateral” position because he mainly works day-to-day as an investigator.
Bouckhuyt explained how he is one of 2800 federally trained and certified bomb technicians in the country, not including those that work in the military. As part of his training, he had to take part in a six week training program at the FBI’s Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. A typical bomb suit is 80 lbs, which can make you hot and uncomfortable when wearing it during the summer in the deep south.
Bouckhuyt said after the initial training, he is still required to attend centralized national training twice a year, to ensure all federally certified bomb technicians are trained the same way. He said that there is a variety of different bomb detection and disposal equipment used by law enforcement and it varies state to state, so equipment training is typically done at the state or regional level. Bouckhuyt added that New York State uses some of the best equipment in the industry, adding that the total value of bomb squad equipment used by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office is $2 million. He added the equipment is purchased with grant money and not through local tax dollars. Due to unfortunate incidents like 9/11 and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Bouckhuyt said there has been increased grant funding to help prevent future events from occurring.
After sharing details about his background and training, Bouckhuyt answered several questions from members, including sharing details about real-life situations that have come up. He said he was one of the first bomb technicians to respond to a reported explosion at the border in Niagara Falls last year, which eventually turned out to be a car crash. He said 90% of the calls he gets is regarding found explosives, such as a potential live grenade that was taken as a ‘souvenir’ by WWII veterans.
Bouchuyt also provided a demonstration of the remote-controlled bomb disposal robot, as well as the portable bomb detection x-ray device.
The meeting was adjourned following Bouchhuyt’s presentation.