LANSING – A Google search of “how to make a bomb” returns 42,900 hits.

One response teaches how to “Make your own H-Bomb at home! A fun project for the do-it-yourself type.”

The State Police isn’t taking any chances – since 2001, the department has invested more than $8 million into its seven regional bomb squad units.

“We’ve made a lot of changes in our commitment to homeland security since 9/11,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Yungfer, deputy director of the State Police. “Our bomb squads are now full time, so their training went from 16 hours a month to 64 hours a month.”

During 2005, state police crime labs investigated 371 bomb or explosive scenes.

First Lt. Shawn Stallworth, a squad member in the Lansing region, said the department responded to more than 600 calls statewide this year.

And youngsters aren’t making only baking soda and vinegar volcanoes anymore. Yungfer said – some are making bombs.

“Kids are going on the Internet and learning how to build bombs and finding what kinds of chemicals they can mix,” Yungfer said.

While six of the units are full-time, the Upper Peninsula’s Marquette lab has a part-time unit because it receives fewer calls.

U.S. Postal Inspector D. L. Carter of Detroit said federal inspectors work hand-in-hand with the state police when needed.

“We’ve organized response teams nationwide that are to trained to recognize suspicious mail items,” Carter said.

Carter said suspicious packages posing a large threat are rare. “My office investigates less than four of these circumstances every year.”

Children aren’t the only people using the Internet for bomb-making information.

Yungfer said squad members use the Web to find bomb recipes so they can create hypothetical situations for practice.

“They get information off the Internet, build devices and try to mess each other up,” Yungfer said. “If they make a mistake, they don’t explode. But they’re constantly being challenged.”

Yungfer said squad members in the Sterling Heights crime lab practiced detonating devices with cell phones.

“They went on the Internet, got the information, went to Radio Shack and built this triggering device. One guy hit ‘pound’ on the cell phone and the device set off,” Yungfer said. “A big wave for terrorists is using cell phones to set off bombs.”

Stallworth said the explosive devices are becoming more sophisticated.

“It used to take effort to learn to build devices and now it’s available for everyone on the Internet,” Stallworth said. “We use the Internet to see what we need to prepare for.”

Shannon Labruyere, a representative of the Southeast Michigan U.S. Postal Service region, said there are more incidents reported involving packages during the holiday season.

“We have higher incidents of packages that make strange noises or have strange things in them,” Labruyere said. “We emphasize to our employees to isolate packages that they think are suspicious.”

Stallworth said 35 percent of incidents where the squad responds turn out to involve explosive devices that could be life or property threatening.