‘Suspicious suitcase’ dropped in front of Sacramento County Jail is empty, police say

Police have determined that a “suspicious suitcase” dropped off at the Sacramento County Jail Sunday evening was empty and posed no harm to the public.

The suitcase was dropped off at the 600 block of I Street, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Police closed I Street from 6th Street to 8th Street for about an hour.

The call came in at 3:30 p.m., said Vance Chandler, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman. The Explosive Ordinance Detail team was called to the scene to evaluate the suitcase, he said.

“They have the proper equipment, the proper training, and they will take all precautionary measures to make sure that they evaluate the package to determine what, if anything, about it is dangerous,” Chandler said. “Part of that is utilizing any special equipment they have — they may have a robot, they may have suits to protect them if they need to make contact with the device — so there’s a lot of steps that they take, and they’re very well trained.”

Chandler said that the jail was closed to the public at the time of the road closure, and that inmates were still following normal protocol.

There are a “wide variety” of reasons a package can be deemed suspicious, Chandler said.

“Part of our investigation will determine what led our police department to believe that this package was suspicious,” Chandler said. “That’s something that our Explosive Ordinance Detail will be gathering, and our police officers and detectives as well.”

I Street is now open to all traffic.

This story was originally published August 26, 2018 at 7:10 PM.