First woman on Boston Police bomb squad hopes to inspire others
By Mike Sullivan, WBZ-TV
BOSTON - She is the bomb! The Boston Police Department welcomed its first female bomb technician to the bomb squad. Her name is Sgt. Christine Carr, and she has more than a decade on the force.
"The most difficult part of the job would be those unknown calls that give you that sense of this is real," smiles Sgt. Carr.
She began her career as a patrol officer and was at the finish line during the marathon bombing. Now almost ten years later she is working to thwart future explosions.
"It used to be pretty often in my mind early on. That experience, I was freshly new, probably less than two years on at the time that that happened," said Sgt. Carr, talking about the marathon Bombing. "Coming up on the 10-year anniversary, to look back on those moments now as a patrolman, and now a Sergeant of the bomb squad, it's my closure for me."
Sgt. Carr says she is in her element when she is working on a bomb. She is a scuba diver, so going to work in a heavy bomb suit actually is calming for her.
"My co-workers before I even got to the bomb squad, they get to domestic shootings, stabbings, essentially statistically that is more dangerous than what we do," explained Sgt. Carr.
She says she didn't pursue her role to be the first female bomb tech, but that it just happened that way. She does hope her story can inspire other women to pursue specialty roles in law enforcement.