A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy and member of the hazardous device team monitors an explosive detection robot tethered with a fiber optic cable searching for a suspected explosive device during a training exercise at the Menifee Impact Church. Valley News/Tony Ault photo
If an unexploded or suspicious explosive device is found anywhere in Riverside County, one of eight highly trained sheriff’s deputies, day or night, can climb into their unmarked truck parked at home nearest the location and be at the scene, hopefully in minutes.They are the members of the Riverside County hazardous device team. Each team member has his own white truck that is fully equipped with search robots, a monitoring screen, laptops, hazardous device protective suits and other gear especially designed to detect and if necessary, explode suspicious ordinance or known explosives.Working closely with the team is the U.S. Air Force Explosive Ordnance Teams, the Riverside County hazardous device team can identify thousands of different kinds of explosive ordinance from bombs to
