Bomb threat called in to Safe Haven

Perimeter search turns up nothing, incident under investigation
By: 
Tim Ryan
Reporter

SHAWANO — A bomb threat was phoned in to the Safe Haven Domestic Abuse Shelter early Monday morning.

The call came in around 2:20 a.m., according to police.

Police Chief Dan Mauel said it was a “vague threat for outside the building.” Shelter residents were not evacuated during the incident.

Police checked the perimeter of the facility at 380 Lakeland Road and found nothing.

Mauel said the incident is still under investigation but police do have a suspect.

Safe Haven Executive Director Stacey Cicero said the facility has never before had a bomb threat in its 18 years of operation.

“That was our first call like that,” she said.

Given the nature of the facility, which exists to provide temporary shelter to people in abusive relationships, occasional threats and unwelcome visitors are no surprise.

“Over the last 18 years, on occasion, we’ve had perpetrators come to the facility, sometimes leaving love notes and flowers in cars, sometimes damaging property, but nothing to the extent of calling in a bomb threat,” Cicero said.

There have been threatening phone calls on occasion and police have been alerted to those.

“It’s always something you have to be vigilant about, because you just don’t know,” Cicero said.

Safe Haven has taken measures in terms of security.

“We’re a very secure facility,” Cicero said.

All entry doors and windows have alarms installed and security cameras keep watch over the facility’s perimeter.

“If a window breaks or is broken into, or a door is pushed open, the alarm goes off,” Cicero said.

“We have live camera feeds right into the shelter advocate’s office so they can see specifically what’s going on outside,” she said. “If somebody comes to the door and rings a buzzer, we can see the person who’s standing on the other side of the door. So we don’t open the door if we don’t know who’s out there, obviously.”

The facility has onsite staff overnight. It was a shelter advocate who took the bomb threat call and alerted police.

The building is monitored by a private security company and the facility has panic alarms, including a silent one, that alerts law enforcement to any problems.

Cicero said Safe Haven also takes due diligence with staff, keeping an eye on the parking lot when they’re coming and going.

The facility currently has eight families in the shelter.

“We’re full right now,” Cicero said.

tryan@newmedia-wi.com