Hartford bomb threat never relayed to airport

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Hartford bomb threat never relayed to airport

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) =97 The city is changing its policies regarding=20
terrorism threats after a dispatcher did not report a call about a bomb=20
threat at Bradley International Airport. The dispatcher received a call=20
Saturday night from an elderly woman who said someone had threatened to=20
bomb her plane on Sunday, The Middletown Press and The Hartford Courant=20
reported in Wednesday's editions. Though the dispatcher, Joe Monarca,=20
repeatedly offered to send an officer to the woman's home, the caller=20
refused. And Monarca never relayed the information to officials at the=20
Windsor Locks airport. When the woman told airport authorities about the=20
threat on Sunday, officials grounded the Iowa-bound plane for 30 minutes,=20
the paper reported. Middletown Mayor Domenique Thornton said the FBI had=20
determined there was no terrorist threat relating to the call, although a=20
spokesperson for the FBI was unavailable to confirm if the threat had been=
=20
dismissed or was still under investigation.

The FBI is reviewing the woman's initial 911 call, which was fielded by the=
=20
city's central communication's department =97 an independent unit serving=20
police, fire and emergency medical response units. Because of the incident,=
=20
however, the city has changed its policies regarding terrorist threats,=20
officials said. Dispatchers are to take all terrorist-like activity=20
seriously, and police will be dispatched to investigate all terrorism=20
threats. The new procedures went into effect Monday, officials said.=20
Officials said Monarca will face no disciplinary action. Several city=20
officials said the 911 call was handled properly. "We didn't have a=20
protocol in place for what to do in case of an Anthrax threat until we got=
=20
our first call about suspicious white substance," said James Milardo,=20
director of Middletown's communications center. "Times have changed. There=
=20
are different situations and threats we have to learn to respond to."


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