Bomb Squad

Allegheny County Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team

Bomb Squad/Dive Team

The Allegheny County Police Bomb Squad was founded in 1975 to serve the County of Allegheny through the mitigation of all explosive hazards. In 2022, the ACPD Bomb Squad consists of up to 10 Hazardous Device School certified bomb technicians that serve not only Allegheny County, but also 13 surrounding counties in conjunction with Region 13 response.

The ACPD Bomb Squad is tasked with the identification, render-safe, and disposal of all commercial and military explosives, military ordnance, improvised explosive devices, radiological/chemical/biological dispersal devices and, in some cases, improvised nuclear weapons. In addition, ACPD Bomb Squad Technicians are certified to provide explosive breaching capabilities to tactical teams throughout our area of operations. The ACPD Bomb Squad is outfitted with state of the art robotic, diagnostic, and interrogation equipment, making it possible to conduct our mission as safely and effectively as possible.

The ACPD Bomb Squad has complete interoperability at multiple levels with our local, state, and federal partners. This allows for seamless support to any requesting agency throughout the primary mission area. It is the ongoing and primary focus of the ACPD Bomb Squad to continue to provide timely and professional explosive mitigation services in an effort to maintain the safety of emergency personnel and the public at large.

A sub-unit of the Bomb Squad, the Allegheny County Police Department SCUBA Dive Team is a Region 13 asset and responsible for responding to law enforcement matters within the rivers, lakes, and reservoirs within our area of responsibility. The Dive Team performs underwater evidence recovery, critical asset searches, drowning victim recovery, underwater explosive hazard mitigation, and underwater crime scene processing. The Dive Team has members that are certified in a multitude of highly-specialized skills such as ice diving, black water search, and underwater explosive demolition.

Requests for the EOD Team are made by law enforcement agencies through County Police Command Staff. EOD Team requests for community-oriented events or presentations should be made to the Superintendent of Police.

Watch the video to learn more about what they do!