‘Suspicious package’ at city high school rendered inoperable by MHPS
By Jeremy Appel on May 21, 2019.
NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT Police responded after a "suspicious package" was reported at Crescent Heights High School on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The school was placed in shelter-in-place protocol for about two hours before the package was "rendered inoperable" by the MHPS.
@MHNJeremyAppel Crescent Heights High School was put in a shelter-in-place Tuesday morning after a “suspicious package” was discovered in its parking lot. The precautionary measure – where all entrances to a building are locked and the people inside are confined to secure areas — was implemented at 9:34 a.m. and lifted by 11:31 a.m., when the package was rendered inoperable by the Explosives Disposal Unit. Part of the parking lot remained closed off into the afternoon for investigation. Medicine Hat Police Service Insp. Joe West told the News a staff member reported the suspicious object to the police in the morning. “It looks to be an assembled object,” he said, adding that the MHPS summoned its Explosive Disposal Unit “to have a closer look at it.” West said an item is classified as “suspicious” when it’s out of place and unidentified. “We’ve got a person at Crescent Heights High who probably walks through that parking lot several times a day everyday for the past many, many years and has seen many, many things in that parking lot, and comes across an object that there’s just no rhyme or reason for it being there,” he said. “You can’t identify what it is, so it’s not a lunchbag, it’s not a backpack, you can’t classify it as something that would normally be there.” West said in the past there have been objects found that are specifically designed to look suspicious and promote fear. “We’ve had other times where there are objects that resemble explosive devices and they turn out not to be,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to make sure the public is safe and we’re always on the side of caution.” The Medicine Hat Public School Division posted a notice on Facebook Tuesday telling parents not to attempt to contact or pick their kids up from school to avoid interfering with the police at work. “We understand that this information is concerning to families and greatly appreciate your patience and confidence in our system to keep students, staff and the public safe. Please do not attempt to call the school as all phone lines need to be kept open at this time,” the statement said. 11
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