County Urges Vigilance, Details Precautions Over Suspicious Packages

County officials and law enforcement authorities outlined security precautions and enlisted the public’s help Thursday after a series of suspected explosive devices were aimed at political targets this week, including two in Westchester.

In an afternoon briefing in White Plains, County Executive George Latimer and Public Safety Commissioner Tom Gleason said the county’s Hazardous Device Unit was called to assist the FBI following the discovery of a device in the mailbox of billionaire activist George Soros on Monday in Bedford. That contraption was “disrupted,” police said.

A second device which Gleason called a pipe bomb was intended for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Chappaqua home but was intercepted by the U.S. Secret Service late Tuesday night at a postal facility in the county as part of routine screening. It was picked up by the Hazardous Device Unit and placed in its specialized container in one piece.

Latimer assured the public that there is no immediate danger but urged citizens to remain alert and report anything that appears suspicious.

“There are no specific threats to county residents that we are aware of at this time,” Latimer said. “We want everybody to remain vigilant. We don’t know if this is something that we’ll see again. There’s no way to know that.”

Both Westchester devises and the packages that contained them were similar to eight others that were sent around the country this week, including to former President Obama in Washington, CNN’s offices in Manhattan and former vice president Joe Biden, Gleason said.

They have been sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va. to be analyzed along with the other packages as federal investigators try to piece together clues and find who is responsible, he said.

“It’s to catch people’s attention that maybe they weren’t thinking about before and just to remind them when they see something like that to report it,” Gleason said.

Anyone who spots a suspicious package should call their local police department or 911, he said.

Latimer said although none of the devices detonated the intent to spread fear is real.

“It’s a targeted effort to make a statement and I think we treat that as a very serious thing,” he said. “Whether these devices were prepared to explode is not really as important to the issue that somebody intended to send them in this county to two individuals and as a nation to 10 individuals with a very specific target and a very specific purpose.”

Action the Public Should Take

During the briefing, county officials handed out a tip sheet listing what residents should do if they come across a suspicious package or piece of mail.

The public should be wary of any letter or package that has no return address; contains oily stains, discolorations, crystallization or wrapper; excessive tape or string, a strange odor or appears rigid or bulky, lopsided or uneven; possibly mailed from a foreign country or with excessive postage; and misspelled words, addressed with no name and with only a title, an incorrect title or badly written or typed.

If there is a such a package, county police recommend to:

–Leave the mail or package where it was found.

–Immediately call 911.

–Clear the immediate area of all persons and keep others away.

–Cordon off the immediate area.

–Instruct people to wash their hands and other exposed skin with soap and water if a wash station is in the immediate area.

–Isolate any exposed people to a designated area away from any substance and await further instruction.

–List the names of the persons in the immediate area of the mail or package.

–Shut down all HVAC systems.

–Document the location or mail or package.