Checklist for a Person Receiving a Bomb Threat by Telephone

Targets	Questions
What	What kind of bomb is it?
	What does it look like?
	What will cause it to explode?
	What do you want?
When	When is the bomb going to explode?
Where	Where is the bomb right now?
	Where are you calling from?
Who	Who are you?
	Who placed the bomb?
	Who do you want told?
Why	Why did you place the bomb?
How	How can we get in touch with you?

 

Message:

(1) exact wording

(2) delivery: well-spoken, incoherent, irrational, cursing

(3) method of delivery: taped, reading a prepared message

 

Features of the caller's voice:

(1) gender – male or female

(2) age – child, young, middle age, old

(3) accent – If so, what kind?

(4) tone and emotions in voice – calm, angry, excited, slow, rapid, laughter

(5) lisp, stutter or other distinguishing features

(6) familiar features – If so, who does it sound like?

(7) attempts at masking voice

 

Features of background noises:

(1) traffic or street noises

(2) airplanes

(3) train

(4) trucks

(5) voices

(6) radio or music

(7) loudspeakers

(8) house or office noises

(9) animals

(10) machinery or motors

(11) other

 

Data about the call:

(1) time and date received

(2) who took the call

(3) extension or phone number called

(4) who was notified and when

 

Tracking the phone call:

(1) Caller-ID can be useful in finding the phone number of origin, provided the caller has not blocked the ID.

(2) An operator may be able to trace a call, but often the call is over before an operator can even start the trace.

 

Limitations:

• A cool, calculating bomber can be expected to leave few if any clues.

• It is very easy for the caller to supply misleading information.