Wednesday, March 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
In response to what turned out to be a bogus bomb threat, UNLV police kept dozens of employees out of a campus building last week, but at least three people inside the facility were oblivious to the search.
UNLV Police Chief David Hollenbeck, who led the search of the Flora Dungan Humanities Building, acknowledged that after five officers combed the building for suspicious devices, three people notified his office that they were unaware of any danger.
Two of the people, whom Hollenbeck refused to identify, were in offices on the seventh floor, where an anonymous caller said a bomb was to detonate.
Hollenbeck refused to discuss the procedure for bomb searches but said police were skeptical of the threat from the start.
At 7:37 a.m. Friday, the would-be bomber called the UNLV police department stating that a bomb would go off on the seventh floor in 12 hours.
"We try not to make judgments about these things and always take prudent precautions," but there was reason to believe it was a hoax, Hollenbeck said.
Hollenbeck said he and his officers checked all public areas and sealed off the building for about 30 minutes. They did not evacuate -- because of the early-morning hour there were only a handful of people in the building -- but people were allowed to leave. Some who were turned away trying to enter the building during the search opted to take the day off, Hollenbeck said.
Of the three people inside who never knew there could have been a bomb, Hollenbeck explained that there are several ways of handling the situation, including pulling the fire alarm and word of mouth -- systematically calling each department. Because they estimated less than half a dozen were people in the building and no real threat was identified, people were told of the threat as they were encountered.
Last year, UNLV police logged two bomb scares -- one at the former university system administration office on East Flamingo Road and another at the registrar's office on campus. No devices were found in either case.
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