Owasso Police say a pipe bomb has been deactivated after they served a search warrant for drugs in an apartment unit on Monday.
Owasso Police say during the search they found a pipe bomb inside a closet in The Greens Apartments in the 8300 Block of North 144th East Avenue.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford explains how surrounding police departments rely on the Tulsa Police Department to deactivate bombs.
Owasso Police say officers called the Tulsa Police Bomb Squad when they first discovered a potential pipe bomb inside an apartment unit.
It’s an immediate response that Tulsa Police say its bomb squad team is obligated to do for surrounding communities for free.
The men suited in green are FBI certified bomb technicians.
They are the Tulsa Police Bomb Squad and they’ve secured Juan Canos’ Owasso apartment building.
Canos lives in the apartment building directly behind the apartment building where police say they found a pipe bomb.
"It's pretty crazy, pretty wild," says Canos.
The Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security (OKOHS) says there are seven certified bomb squad teams in the state that can deactivate bombs in Oklahoma.
OKOHS says they are the Oklahoma City Police Department, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, Edmond Police Department, Midwest City Police Department, Norman Police Department, Tulsa Police Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The Tulsa Police Department Bomb Squad is considered the largest in Northeastern Oklahoma to keep people like those in Owasso protected from potential explosions.
"Had it been activated or blown up and it would have been very dangerous for anybody within close proximity to it. It is described to be similar to what a hand grenade would do if it were to go off," says Owasso Deputy Police Chief Scott Chambless.
Under a Homeland Security agreement Tulsa Police can be called to help surrounding communities or counties to check out a potential bomb or bomb threat at no cost.
"We are very thankful that we do have them close by because we do not have our own bomb squad and we do rely on them quite often to come look at items that might be a bomb," says Chambless.
TPD says its bomb squad equipment, operations and training are mainly funded through federal and state grants.
TPD says the grant money can also cover overtime costs for the bomb squad.
So charging communities for its bomb squad service is not an option.
Canos agrees and says his safety shouldn’t have price tag.
"You don't know how it's going to be like tomorrow or the next day with all this stuff going on in small towns," says Canos.
TIn other emergencies, Tulsa Police say right now they do not charge to send its Special Operations Team (SOT) to help with armed and barricaded incidents.
However, that option had been talked about in previous budget concerns.
Tulsa Police say it also does not charge to send its helicopters to surrounding police departments for searches. The two TPD helicopters were ground in recent citywide budget cuts.
Mayor Elect Dewey Bartlett says he wants to redeploy one of the two helicopters.
Owasso Police are not releasing the suspect’s name but say the suspect could face federal charges for possessing the pipe bomb.
Currently, Owasso Police say the suspect is facing state charges on complaints of having one pound of marijuana and a controlled substance inside the suspect’s apartment.
