The incident happened at the end of July after a person called the emergency services to report a suspicious object on the common.
The object was described over the phone.
Police admitted that call handlers then got the advice to the person wrong. Incorrectly identifying it as a ‘sharp object’, the person was advised to bring it to the station for safe disposal.
‘When the object arrived it was quickly identified as a small piece of unexploded ordnance.
‘The reception area was evacuated while explosive ordnance disposal officers took the device, made it safe, and destroyed it in a safe location later that day,’ police said in a statement.
‘Clearly it is not protocol to ask members of the public to bring unexploded ordnance to police headquarters, however in this instance the item was not correctly identified by call handlers over the phone, and the wrong advice was given.
‘The nature of the object means the risk was still minimal to anyone involved.’
Police added that anyone finding something that could be unexploded ordnance should continue to contact them on 01481 222 222 for the EOD team to respond.