# Resolved: Do not evacuate buildings based on called in threats **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605 "2001-09-14T14:55:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/1 "2001-09-14T14:55:14Z")
Personally, I don’t think that buildings should be evacuated if there is only a called in threat. I would prefer to take my chances rather than just react to all the idiots out there that find it “funny” to call in bomb threats. I would probably make an exception for schools where children are involved. Also, if there are credible concerns like a dog alerting to a suspicious package. What do the other Dopers think? ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/2 "2001-09-14T14:59:15Z")
I will ALWAYS evacuate myself. I evacuate buildings if there’s a bad rain storm…but I’m a scaredy cat. In a similar vein, I worked in the Sears Tower and was given a list of questions to ask the ‘threat caller’. Then I was told to quietly and calmly inform the building management that there was a bomb threat, then I was told to kiss my ass goodbye. OK, not that last part. I was actually told in my first few days there (by a gorgeous but loudmouth limo driver) that there was NO WAY you could evacuate the Sears Tower so they wouldn’t even tell you if there was a bomb…figuring ignorance is bliss. I almost quit my job that day. I’ve always wondered if that was true or not. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/3 "2001-09-14T15:04:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rsa \* > **Personally, I don’t think that buildings should be evacuated if there is only a called in threat. I would prefer to take my chances rather than just react to all the idiots out there that find it “funny” to call in bomb threats.** So you would have, e.g. not evacuated the Senate Chamber yesterday (which, at the time of the evacuation, contained all 100 of our Senators) and risked killing off a quarter of our country’s leadership? ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/4 "2001-09-14T15:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by rsa \* > > **Personally, I don’t think that buildings should be evacuated if there is only a called in threat. I would prefer to take my chances rather than just react to all the idiots out there that find it “funny” to call in bomb threats.** > > So you would have, e.g. not evacuated the Senate Chamber yesterday (which, at the time of the evacuation, contained all 100 of our Senators) and risked killing off a quarter of our country’s leadership? \*\* Well, not to nitpick, but rsa said “if there is only a call in threat”. It’s my understanding that the Senate Chamber had an unidentified package as well. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/5 "2001-09-14T15:09:02Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by KellyM \* \*\* > [@](#): > > So you would have, e.g. not evacuated the Senate Chamber yesterday (which, at the time of the evacuation, contained all 100 of our Senators) and risked killing off a quarter of our country’s leadership? \*\* Yesterday - yes, evacuation was in order. My question is this: what if a bomb threat was called in every hour for the next six months? How would the U.S. Legislature function? I can see where **rsa** is coming from. I only wish I had some good answers. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/6 "2001-09-14T15:10:03Z")
A bomb threat? Buh-bye! I’d rather run in and out of buildings all day long than sit there terrified. If some whacko is getting his jollies by calling in fake bomb threats, so what? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/7 "2001-09-14T15:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > **A bomb threat? Buh-bye! I’d rather run in and out of buildings all day long than sit there terrified.** For how long? Put a time on it. Eventually, bomb threats will have to somehow subverted in our American conciousness. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/8 "2001-09-14T15:34:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > So you would have, e.g. not evacuated the Senate Chamber yesterday (which, at the time of the evacuation, contained all 100 of our Senators) and risked killing off a quarter of our country’s leadership? As jarbabyj noted, at the time there was believed to be a suspicious package found. That’s not what I talking about. I am asking about evacuations due to a “called in threat” only. BTW, I thought it was odd that the senators were sent outside where they could be in even greater danger. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/9 "2001-09-14T15:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rsa \* > \*\*BTW, I thought it was odd that the senators were sent outside where they could be in even greater danger. \*\* That’s a good point. What if the Capitol were evacuated, only for some mole Capitol janitor or something to start shooting at our nation’s leaders while everyone is ammassed outside? Assured safety will be impossible for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/10 "2001-09-14T23:59:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Personally, I don’t think that buildings should be evacuated if there is only a called in threat. I would prefer to take my chances rather than just react to all the idiots out there that find it “funny” to call in bomb threats. One of the TV or radio stations had a terrorism expert on shortly after the planes hit. The reporter asked him if there had been any threats of terrorist attack. He replied that threats only occur in the movies. Real terrorists just do it. In other words, if there’s a bomb _threat_, there probably isn’t actually a _bomb_. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/11 "2001-09-15T00:28:39Z")
> [@](#): > > He replied that threats only occur in the movies. Real terrorists just do it. I don’t think that’s always the case. IIRC, the IRA would often plant a bomb in some public place, then call in a warning in time to evacuate the shopping mall or whatever, the idea being to cause destruction, panic, and confusion, without utterly disgusting and horrifying everyone by mass-murdering a bunch of innocent civilians. I think they would also have previously set up some sort of system of “code words” so the police would know it was really them, and not just some bored idiot or kid looking to cut classes with the old “Call in a bomb threat to the school” trick. Of course, the perpetrators of this week’s attacks make people who use that sort of _modus operandi_ look like sweet fuzzy innocent lambs. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-do-not-evacuate-buildings-based-on-called-in-threats/81605/12 "2001-09-15T00:53:18Z")
In re shooting senators evacuated from the capitol. Not to be gruesome or anything, but I believe that one of those kids who shot up his school pulled the fire alarm and then opened fire as everybody calmly walked out in single file lines. Also, I think that recent events have made people a little jumpy, and my guess is that it is not SOP to evacuate the Capitol on the basis of a phone call alone. Anybody know about this? Tenebras