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NYPD developing portable body scanner for detecting concealed weapons

NYPD developing portable body scanner for detecting concealed weapons
The New York Police Department is developing a portable scanner for detecting concealed guns on peoples' bodies (Photo: NYPD)
The New York Police Department is developing a portable scanner for detecting concealed guns on peoples' bodies (Photo: NYPD)
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The New York Police Department is developing a portable scanner for detecting concealed guns on peoples' bodies (Photo: NYPD)
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The New York Police Department is developing a portable scanner for detecting concealed guns on peoples' bodies (Photo: NYPD)

You have to feel sorry for the police officers who are required to frisk people for guns or knives - after all, if someone who doesn't want to be arrested is carrying a lethal weapon, the last thing that most of us would want to do is get close enough to that person to touch them. That's why the New York Police Department teamed up with the United States Department of Defense three years ago, and began developing a portable scanner that can remotely detect the presence of a gun on a person's body. The NYPD announced the project yesterday.

The device uses infrared light rays to image radiation being emitted by a person's body. Wherever a solid metal object such as a gun is blocking those rays from reaching the body, a silhouette of that object will appear on the scanner's screen. So far, the technology only works from a distance of about three or four feet (about one meter), although NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly hopes that its range can ultimately be extended to at least 25 meters (82 feet).

The plan is for the scanner to be mounted on a van, then used on suspects who would otherwise have to be physically searched.

Source: NY Post

6 comments
6 comments
Billy Morrison
Getting closer and closer to those xray glasses that we always wanted!!
TheRogue1000
No surprise here. NYC has always been an anti gun town. And I can assure you this item will be used for many other purposes once it\'s developed and on people who are not \"suspects\".
Michael Gene
And yet another freedom bites the dust, the bill of rights are falling like dominoes leaving us in little more than a dictatorship lite.
CptObvious
Yeah, I\'m wondering how this will change things if expanded out to areas that allow lawful/licensed concealed carry... It changes the dynamic of an encounter when an officer already knows you\'re carrying, but you haven\'t had a chance to let them know that you\'re a law-abiding and licensed citizen.
yourmomthinksimcool
This would seem to me to be Illegal/Unconstitutional to to use in mass. Last time I checked we were still calling ourselves a constitutional republic were people have things called rights. I could see for very extremely specialized situations. Definitely not mounted on a van though.
Mike Barnett
Besides the obvious abrogation of civil rights that this causes (of course, it\'s New York, so I expect no less), the idiot in the picture has his pistol holster BACKWARDS! Then again, I DO prefer my criminals stupid...