Bomb Threat Procedures: A Response Plan for NJ Properties

When a bomb threat arrives, the first person who hears or reads it sets the tone for everything after. Stay calm, keep the caller talking, record the exact words, notify your decision maker and 911, and let the assessment, not panic, drive the choice to evacuate, search or shelter. A property with named roles, a written checklist and trained staff makes that sequence routine. This guide gives you the procedures for each type of threat, the suspicious package rules, the evacuation decision and the plan to put in place before the call comes. Most of it follows federal guidance, and we flag where New Jersey adds its own requirements.

Key Takeaways

• Treat every threat seriously, but do not evacuate automatically. CISA’s guidance says the response should follow a threat assessment.
• For phone threats, do not hang up, record the exact words, and complete a checklist while the caller is still talking.
• Never touch, move or open a suspicious item, and keep radios and cell phones away from it.
• Write down who decides, who searches, who evacuates, where people assemble and how you communicate, then train staff on it.
• New Jersey schools have a drill requirement that includes bomb threats. Commercial properties follow federal guidance and local responders.

What a bomb threat is and why the procedure matters

A bomb threat is a threat to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death or injury, whether or not a device actually exists. That definition is why the response cannot depend on guessing. Most threats prove to be false, which is why CISA’s Office for Bombing Prevention stresses that a decision maker must be able to judge how seriously to take each one.

Preparation also pays off in ordinary terms. The Federal Protective Service says planning can reduce the stress on the people threatened by building confidence in how to respond, and consistent preparation can shorten the response and so lessen the financial impact.

For a property manager, that means the procedure has to exist on paper, be known by the people who answer phones and open mail, and name who makes the call when the facts are unclear.

Procedure 1: A threat by phone

The receptionist, front desk officer, or guard booth attendant is usually the one who takes the call. CISA’s checklist and guide call for the following steps:

1. Stay calm and keep the caller on the line as long as possible. Do not hang up, even if the caller does.
2. Signal a colleague by note or hand signal so someone can notify decision makers and authorities while you keep listening.
3. Copy the number shown on the phone display.
4. Write down the exact wording of the threat, and record the call if your system allows it.
5. Complete the checklist during and immediately after the call.

The Federal Protective Service adds that when the call ends, you should not hang up the handset because the call may be traceable, and you should call 911 from a different phone.

What to ask and what to record

CISA’s August 2025 Bomb Threat Procedure Checklist is the document most search results reproduce. Print it and keep it at every phone that takes outside calls. It has you record the time, date, the number the call came in on and the time the caller hung up. The questions it lists are:

• Where is the bomb located (building, floor, room)?
• When will it go off?
• What does it look like?
• What kind of bomb is it?
• What will make it explode?
• Did you place the bomb?
• Why?
• What is your name?
• Where are you?

It then asks for details that help investigators: the caller’s estimated age, whether the voice is familiar, background sounds such as street noise, music, machinery or a PA system, the language of the threat (read from a script, irrational, well-spoken) and voice characteristics such as accent, calm, angry or disguised.

A practical point for busy sites: the checklist is only useful if the person on the phone has seen it before. A one-page copy taped beside the phone, with a pen attached, beats a PDF buried in a shared drive.

Procedure 2: A written, email or social media threat

Not every threat is spoken. CISA’s guide gives separate handling for each format.

Written threat (note, letter, graffiti)

• Handle the document as little as possible.
• Notify decision makers and authorities.
• Record when and where it was found.
• Secure it without altering it.

Email or social media threat

• Leave the message open on the screen.
• Copy or photograph the message and its subject line.
• Note the date and time.
• Notify decision makers and authorities.

The Federal Protective Service also says that usernames, email addresses, websites, phone numbers or platform names tied to the incident should be kept and reported to local law enforcement. Tell your IT contact in advance not to delete or clean up anything after a threat comes in by email or through a web form.

Procedure 3: Assess the threat before you decide

The Massachusetts State Police guidance calls threat assessment the most important step, because it determines the level of public safety response, the scope of the search and whether to evacuate. The same guidance says to contact local law enforcement and fire immediately, bring together a threat assessment team, and set up unified command so police, fire and facility management assess the threat together.

CISA says to weigh the realism, plausibility, directness and immediacy of the threat, plus the exact wording, including any detail that shows knowledge of your site or your employees. The 2016 DHS-DOJ brochure describes low-risk threats as those that lack realism and pose minimal risk, with a probable motive of disruption.

Three questions help a site decision maker organize the discussion:

1. Does the threat name a location, time or device, and does that match how your property actually works?
2. Does the caller or writer seem to know your site, schedule or staff?
3. Has anyone found a suspicious item?

The answers feed the next decision, and responders at the scene are part of that decision, not an afterthought.

Evacuate, search or shelter in place

The instinct is to empty the building. Federal guidance is more careful than that. CISA warns that even when a threat seems credible, you should not evacuate automatically, because evacuees could be put in greater danger: hostile actors have used bomb threats in the past to better target people.

The response scales with the threat level:

Threat level	Typical response	Source
Low risk	Consider sheltering in place and conducting a search	Massachusetts State Police
Moderate	Lock down the site and conduct a full or partial search	CISA
Specific threat naming an area	Evacuate that area (partial evacuation)	Massachusetts State Police
High, specific and realistic, or a suspicious item found	Partial or full evacuation	CISA

The Federal Protective Service card adds a caution for the first minutes: do not activate the fire alarm or evacuate until police arrive and evaluate the threat. Massachusetts guidance likewise says never to pull the fire alarm unless there is a fire. Follow the direction of your local police and your written plan if the two ever differ in detail, since each incident is unique.

If you evacuate

The 2016 DHS-DOJ brochure lists what to do when evacuation starts:

• Choose routes and assembly areas away from any suspicious item, and make sure the routes have been searched and cleared.
• Tell police, fire and EMS about the evacuation and request assistance.
• Have the Evacuation Team confirm the building is empty.
• Account for all personnel.
• Ask evacuees to take personal items with them, which removes unknown bags from the search.

Massachusetts guidance adds that the assembly point should be a controlled area that has been searched and is not mentioned in the threat.

If you shelter in place

Sheltering means securing the building, limiting movement, and keeping people informed. School guidance lists the supplies and planning involved: access to food, water, medical supplies, communications, utilities and first aid kits, and notification of local emergency management and public safety. The same guidance advises being ready to explain to parents and the public, as soon as practical, why you sheltered, to avoid panic. Businesses can adapt that for tenants, employees and visitors.

Suspicious packages and items

A threat often comes with a search, and a search can turn up an item. Everyone should know what counts as suspicious and what not to do.

CISA defines a suspicious item as anything reasonably believed to contain explosives or another hazard that needs a bomb technician to evaluate. Its test is the HOT acronym: Hidden, Obviously suspicious, not Typical. Staff should also understand the difference between an unattended item and a suspicious one.

For mail and parcels, the Federal Protective Service lists signs such as no return address, excessive postage, poor handwriting, misspellings, stains and incorrect titles.

What to do

1. Stop. Do not touch, tamper with or move the item.
2. Report it immediately to the site decision maker and to local law enforcement. CISA’s guidance has the area secured and cleared of personnel and the search team notified.
3. Evacuate the immediate area. Be aware that a secondary device is possible, per the FBI’s National Explosives Task Force.
4. Note the characteristics that made you suspicious.
5. Call 911 from a cellular or off-site phone, as NIST’s quick reference directs, from outside the immediate area.

What not to do

Do not use two-way radios or cell phones near the item. NIST and the Federal Protective Service both say radio signals could detonate a device. Do not activate the fire alarm in response to the item, and do not try to diagnose it. The FBI says diagnostic and render-safe actions are for certified bomb technicians only.

The Texas Department of Insurance training program advises that when a suspicious object is found, either evacuate the building or move everyone at least 300 feet away, depending on the size of the bomb. Let responders refine that distance for your site.

Searching the property

When the assessment calls for a search, trained people should do it, with responders where possible. The Texas program tells search teams to look, listen and smell before entering a room, divide the room into zones by height, leave lights as they are (on or off), and work from the outside of the building to the public areas and finally the private areas.

University police guidance adds practical limits. Do not use radios or cell phones until an area has been searched and cleared. Ask personnel for a quick visual scan of their own workspace. Check ledges, balconies and waste bins. And finding one suspicious item should not end the search, because more devices may be present.

Those staff scans work because people know what belongs in their space, which is the same logic behind a good site layout and clear access rules.

Build the written response plan before you need it

CISA says a bomb threat management plan has four goals: mitigate vulnerabilities, make informed decisions during assessment, deter perpetrators and minimize consequences. Its core elements are a procedure for handling a threat, a procedure for assessing the threat level, a response procedure covering search and evacuation, and instructions for restoring normal operations.

A workable plan for a New Jersey commercial property includes:

• Local coordination. Meet your local police and first responders, and agree on how they will be contacted and met on arrival.
• Roles. Name primary and alternate Site Decision Makers, plus Evacuation Teams and Search Teams, so that the plan does not rely on one person being on site.
• Contacts. List emergency numbers and internal contacts.
• Routes and assembly areas. Set primary and alternate routes, assembly areas away from likely threats, and a control center.
• Signals and communications. Decide how you will announce an evacuation and how you will message staff, tenants and the public.
• Utilities. Decide who can access, shut off and reactivate them.
• Training. Train staff and put the checklist at each phone.
• Recovery. Write down how to restore normal operations.

These items come from the Texas Department of Insurance program and the 2016 DHS-DOJ brochure.

Preparation that reduces uncertainty

The same DHS-DOJ brochure lists everyday measures that make a response easier: controlling building access, strict master key control, inspecting incoming parcels, safeguarding confidential material, keeping exits unobstructed and ensuring adequate emergency lighting. No measure promises a threat will not happen, but each one shrinks the unknowns when it does. Our guides to commercial door security and the security site assessment cover several of these at the property level, and the business security plan fields give you a place to record the roles and contacts above.

What New Jersey requires, and what is general guidance

Most of what is above is federal and state-agency guidance, which is general guidance rather than a New Jersey legal requirement for private properties. Check with your local police department, your insurer and your counsel on anything specific to your municipality or lease.

Schools are different. Under N.J.S.A. 18A:41-1, the state Department of Education’s guide says schools must hold at least two security drills a year of each type, including bomb threat drills, alongside active shooter, non-fire evacuation and lockdown drills.

For reporting suspicious activity that is not an emergency, New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness takes reports at 866-4-SAFE-NJ or [email protected]. In an emergency, call 911.

Where on-site security fits

A procedure on paper still depends on someone being at the door, the phone and the loading dock. Our work starts from the property: we build security guard coverage, armed or unarmed, around each site’s risks and operational needs, with clear reporting and on-site officer training. Access control systems give you a record of who enters and let you restrict areas during an incident.

If your property is an office, office security services are set up around how tenants, visitors and deliveries move through the building. For a site plan that covers incident reporting, entry points and who is on post at what hour, talk to GuardEX through our site.

FAQ

What should you not do in a bomb threat?

Do not hang up on a phone caller, touch or move a suspicious item, or use radios and cell phones near it. Do not pull the fire alarm unless there is a fire, and do not evacuate automatically before the threat is assessed with responders. The CISA checklist and FPS card state these points.

Should we evacuate or shelter in place?

It depends on the assessment. Federal and state guidance suggests sheltering in place and searching for low-risk threats, a partial evacuation when the threat names an area, and a full evacuation when a suspicious item is found or the threat is high risk. Make that call with police and fire.

What is a suspicious package?

CISA describes one as an item reasonably believed to contain explosives or another hazard that needs a bomb technician. Its HOT test asks whether the item is hidden, obviously suspicious and not typical for the location. Mail with no return address, odd postage or stains is a common warning sign.

What belongs in a bomb threat response plan?

Cover local coordination, named decision makers, evacuation and search teams, contacts, routes and assembly areas, signals, communications, utilities, training and recovery. CISA’s four core elements are handling, assessing, responding and restoring operations.

Sources

• CISA Bomb Threat Guide (August 2025)
• CISA Bomb Threat Procedure Checklist (August 2025)
• CISA Bomb Threat Guidance Quad Fold (August 2025)
• Federal Protective Service Bomb Threat Procedures card (December 2024)
• Federal Protective Service Bomb Threat Readiness (October 2024)
• 2016 DHS-DOJ Bomb Threat Guidance Brochure
• Massachusetts State Police Bomb Threat Response Guidance
• Texas Department of Insurance Bomb Threat Safety Training Program
• Crisis Management in Georgia Public Schools (September 2024)
• UMBC Police: Terrorism, Bomb Threat or Suspicious Item
• FBI National Explosives Task Force suspicious package indicators
• NIST Suspicious Package quick reference
• New Jersey School Security Drill Guide
• DHS: Reporting Suspicious Activity in New Jersey

Recommended

• Shopping Center Security: A Planning Guide for NJ Owners
• Distribution Center Security: A Layered Plan for NJ Sites
• Commercial Door Security: A Practical Guide for NJ Properties
• Apartment Building Access Control: A Planning Guide for NJ