WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsThreats force local Social Security office to close

Threats force local Social Security office to close

Eau Claire (WQOW) - Threats against its employees forces a satellite office for the Social Security Administration to shut down.

"We have Protective Services coming in now to do an investigation and follow up because you don't know whether the individual is speaking off the top of their head or capable of carrying out deadly action and you just can't take that chance," says Rep. Ron Kind, (D) 3rd District.

The office that has been closed temporarily is the contact station inside the River Falls library.  The library is still open. 

The Social Security Administration says a contact station is different from field offices like the one in Eau Claire in that they're set up for appointments only. There's no word on the extent of the threat or whether a suspect is in custody. 

Congressman Kind says across the country these offices have been targeted for a number of reasons, including frustrations over a backlog of unprocessed claims. Kind says it's clear people are on edge right now. 

He says his own staff members have been threatened over the phone. He calls that intolerable. Kind says there's a way to communicate your displeasure productively without having to threaten someone. The contact station in River Falls is expected to re-open in January.