Press Release
On Tuesday, May 10th, Charleston County Councilmembers recognized 9-1-1 telecommunicators for their role in a bomb threat to a historically black college (HBCU). The call was received on February 1st, 2022, at 5:34 am on the nonemergency phone line. The caller stated he had planted a bomb at an HBCU.
Telecommunicator Bianca Anderson answered the call and gathered information from the caller. She then transferred it to supervisor Miriam Cousino who spoke with the caller for two hours gathering valuable information for law enforcement. The information Cousino collected from the caller was shared with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, the Information Sharing Hub, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). There were numerous bomb threats made to HBCU's across the country and the school threatened on the call was not in Charleston County.
“Cousino and Anderson acted in a professional manner where they used their training to create a ‘relationship of trust',” said 9-1-1 Consolidated Dispatch Center Director Jim Lake. “This ‘relationship' with the caller allowed them to obtain more information. This allowed the Sheriff's Office and The Hub to obtain additional information all of which assisted the FBI in their investigation.”
In recognition of the significant contributions each had made in support of the FBI investigation, Cousino and Anderson were presented with Letters and Certificates of Appreciation, signed by Susan Ferensic, Special Agent in Charge of the Columbia Field Office.
