OSP: ‘Suspicious object’ in SW Bend was electrician’s device

(Update: OSP confirms the object was electrician device)

Police said a citizen found a suspicious object that looked like a pipe bomb at a southwest Bend intersection Monday evening, prompting officers to call in the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad from Salem, which they said “rendered it safe” a few hours later.

But once the story based on a police news release was posted, several people on NewsChannel 21’s Facebook page said they recognized the object as a much more benign device used by electricians in electrical vaults. And OSP confirmed it was that on Wednesday.

Bend police Sgt. Tim Guest said the citizen called Deschutes County 911 dispatchers to report finding the item shortly before 5:30 p.m. on the curb at the corner of Brookswood Boulevard and Lodgepole Drive, Sgt. Tim Guest said.

Police responded but were unable to determine if it was a dangerous device, so they called in the OSP Bomb Squad, Guest said.

The bomb squad arrived around 8:30 p.m. and “rendered the device safe,” Guest said, then took it back to Salem, where it will undergo further examination to identify it.

One commenter said it “is a feed through for an electrical vault,” and another shared a photo of a “load break feed through” device that does appear to be very similar to the object photographed by police.

OSP Captain Tim Fox said Wednesday the item was determined to be “an electrical lineman device. We do not know from which company.”