The NYPD is in hot water with civil rights groups over its controversial Stop-and-Frisk policy. But NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has a solution — handheld weapons scanners that see guns under clothing! Fourth Amendment? What’s that?
As Kelly told a State of the NYPD breakfast Tuesday, the department is developing a mobile, infrared scanner mechanism that would allow officers to detect concealed weapons similar to the way that full-body scanners at airports work. The US Department of Defense is also working with the NYPD to develop the technology, though details are still rather scarce.
Currently the technology only has a range of around 1m, requiring the officers to still actually interact with the citizenry presumed criminals. The NYPD hopes to eventually extend the range to 25m and mount it atop a police van. This would allow the cops to simply cruise down a street and scan everybody on the footpath without having to let them know they’ve just been searched. [NY Post, Gothamist via DVice]