An alert passer-by who noticed an out-of-place mailbox Monday morning in Lower Downtown was praised by federal and local officials who said such vigilance is necessary with the Democratic National Convention just a week away.
The Denver bomb squad and numerous patrol officers responded to the unmarked collection box at 18th and Market streets. They blocked off about five blocks of Market Street for an hour.
Investigators determined that the dark box, which resembled a regular U.S. Postal Service drop box, was moved to the site by a private courier company over the weekend without authorities being notified.
The box was moved from another downtown location because of construction, but the company employee didn’t tell anyone.
Although there was no bomb in the mailbox, officials said they appreciated the call.
Ron Perea, special agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Denver, said the caller did exactly the right thing.
Local citizens, said Perea, “are the eyes that see what belongs and what doesn’t belong.”
Authorities said the caller on Monday was aware that the U.S. Postal Service had temporarily removed 70 mailboxes throughout downtown as a security precaution during the convention. The caller also knew the box at 18th and Market was new to the location.
Because no Postal Service box was supposed to be on the corner, the courier’s box triggered suspicion.
“This person did exactly what we want people to do,” said Sonny Jackson, spokesman for the Denver Police Department.
Jackson said the police response and the precautions taken were not a waste of taxpayer money or police time.
“From a police standpoint, we’d rather respond and rule it out than not respond and have something happen,” said Jackson.
A bomb truck and two specialized vans arrived at the scene within minutes of the report.
When the owner of the box heard of the incident from media reports, he came to the scene and identified the box.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
