DOING BANG-UP JOB EX-LAPD BOMB SQUAD OFFICER STILL ON DUTY.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Herb Williams' days are a bit less glamorous now that the retired LAPD bomb squad member and movie consultant is working as a security guard at College of the Canyons.

The 58-year-old retired Los Angeles Police Department officer, who spent his career risking his life as a member of the elite bomb squad, now spends his days citing students for smoking or skateboarding on campus.

Even though his new job is not as exciting as his old one - very few jobs could be - the focus of his work remains the same: ensuring public safety.

``It was hard to transition out of that from doing the bomb work all the time, but after about a year, I got used to it,'' said Williams, who's still a strapping figure with rock-hard arms a 20-year-old would envy. ``But the working environment here is second to none. The job is more mundane than what I did, but it's a job that's gotta be done, and I don't mind doing it. It's not just a door shaker job.''

Retired five years from his high-pressure job on the elite bomb squad - where he served the last 14 of his 30-year career on the LAPD - Williams has been working at the college to keep busy and to earn a little extra money.

``I have five grandsons and a wife that likes to cruise a lot,'' he cracked. ``But I enjoy working, and this environment is so conducive to my lifestyle.''

Though he has no regrets about retiring, Williams is proud of the work he did, recalling the time he and his partner successfully took apart a 2,500-pound truck bomb in West Los Angeles - the largest bomb successfully rendered safe in U.S. history, he said. The Internal Revenue Service had offices in the building.

On the job, Williams said it wouldn't be fear driving his work because technicians had to develop a respect for the device.

``Fear cannot be a factor as a bomb technician,'' he said.

New members of the squad would have to pass Williams' approval before making it in, and he knew that he was a tough guy who made it as difficult as possible for recruits.

``He's tough, very intimidating and very knowledgeable,'' his stepdaughter confirmed.

The job would get his blood pumping, especially in his first few years on the squad, before he began to dread the early morning calls.

``The first three years, when the phone would ring after midnight, it would be an adrenalin rush, and you had to scrape me off the ceiling,'' he recalled.

And the best part of his job was the camaraderie with his fellow bomb technicians.

When Williams talks about the new generation of bomb technicians, his voice is laced with frustration, especially about the increased reliance on technology.

``I'm from the old school, and shame on me if something happens to me when taking a bomb apart,'' he said. ``New kids today, all they know is the robot, and once you lose that skill or intuition, it's gone.''

During his time on the LAPD, Williams segued his knowledge as the bomb squad training officer into a small degree of celebrity, working as a technical adviser on ``Lethal Weapon'' and ``Lethal Weapon 2,'' ``X-Files: The Movie'' and ``Blown Away.''

He even ended up in a few scenes in the ``Lethal Weapon'' sequel.

``I'm the guy in the bomb suit that walks in when Danny Glover is on the toilet,'' he said, laughing. ``They called me Mr. Hollywood at work.''

A Santa Clarita Valley resident since 1974, Williams spends a lot of time with his five grandchildren - a role his stepdaughter said he was born to play.

``My husband and I work, so he does guy things with the kids, taking them fishing all the time, and they are never a burden to him. He never seems to be stressed,'' stepdaughter Lori Bultman said.

Although his two stepdaughters never found the man with the seemingly gruff exterior to be intimidating, their dates certainly did.

``He's very much devoted, caring and just a little crazy. He's off the wall with people that don't know him,'' Bultman said.

Williams remembers slamming the door in the face of his younger stepdaughter's date when he showed up to the door unkempt.

``He said, 'I'm here to pick up your daughter,''' Williams said. ``I just laughed and said, My a-- you are, and slammed the door.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Former LAPD bomb squad officer Herb Williams now uses his keen senses to keep the peace as a security guard at College of the Canyons.

(2 -- color) Herb Williams, who spent 14 years on the LAPD's bomb squad, patrols the campus of College of the Canyons as the school's security guard.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer