BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Police tape
stretches around the James West Alumni Center, where police were
called in response to a suspicious package.
By Chris Goodmacher
Daily Bruin Contributor
Staff of the James West Alumni Center received a suspicious
package around noon Tuesday, causing everyone in the building to
evacuate for almost two hours before they were allowed to return
inside.
An individual delivered the package to a member of the staff,
who then alerted university police. UCPD called the LAPD, bringing
the number of UC and LAPD officers on the scene to about a dozen,
according to Keith Brant, assistant vice chancellor of Alumni
Relations.
“With the heightened sensitivity right now, we’re
not going to take a chance,” said Nancy Greenstein, director
of community services for UCPD.
The package had no return address and was addressed to various
elected officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Gov. Gray
Davis, members of the L.A. City Council and “UCLA
Alumni,” Greenstein said.
Once the LAPD bomb squad arrived on the scene, they used an
X-ray machine to determine that the package was not a threat,
Greenstein said.
After the building was declared safe, UCPD examined the inside
of the box and found “lots of papers smashed together,”
she said.
When the building was evacuated, police restricted access around
the building, according to Michael Bjorn, administrative assistant
for the Central Ticket Office.
The turnaround in front of the Alumni Center was blocked as
well, according to Aren Der Harcopian, reservations manager for the
Alumni Center.
The staff of CTO, which is housed in the center, was also
evacuated, causing ticket sales to be temporarily suspended. Bjorn
said the staff returned to work at 1:40 p.m. and phone lines opened
again at 2 p.m.
At one point during the evacuation, staff were told to come back
in, but as they were about to re-enter the building, officers were
informed it wasn’t secure, forcing staff to wait another 15
to 20 minutes before they could return, according to Bjorn.
Both the evacuation and re-entry of the building went smoothly,
Bjorn said.
Students at the scene were skeptical about possible terrorist
involvement.
“We take terrorism seriously, but I don’t think
Osama bin Laden and his cohorts are after UCLA’s Alumni
Center,” said Jake Strom, a first-year history student.
With reports from Jason Ahn, Daily Bruin Contributor.