GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Richard Kurtz wrapped a plastic knife blade a few folds into a cloth before pointing a flashlight-like device at the cloth.
Nearby, a screen flashed the word "anomaly" in large red letters.
The device, called the Saf-T-Chek Anomaly Detection System, is the latest in technology for detecting possible weapons in clothing at security screening locations.
Kurtz, with Advanced Photonix Inc., touted the device Tuesday at the annual Great Lakes Homeland Security Training Conference and Expo at DeVos Place.
He was among more than 40 exhibitors who set up shop at the conference, hoping to generate more interest in their products and ideas.
The Saf-T-Chek uses a low power beam of thermal energy to scan items and is promoted mostly for checking head coverings. It uses terahertz pulse waves and does not produce an image, reducing concerns about privacy.
"When you go through a metal detector, all it does is look for metal. But this is different. A turbin is 40 yards of cloth, so you don't want to have someone unwrap that if they don't have to," Kurtz said.
This year's Homeland Security conference is titled "Answering the Call," with a focus on promoting ways to engage the community in emergency preparedness and response efforts.
Among the workshop topics scheduled during the three-day conference are cyber security, disaster impacts at health care facilities and changes in global terrorism, as well as more defined topics like "The Underwear Bomber -- What Really Happened."
Michigan State Police Capt. Tom Sands, head of the state's Emergency Management Homeland Security Division, said about 1,100 people were signed up to attend this year's event.
It has grown significantly since it's start in 1999, he said.
The conference kicked off today with an emotional video about how boat captains -- tug boats, ferry boats, party boats, fishing boats -- all came together on Sept. 11, 2001 to get people off Manhattan after the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
The effort moved more than 500,000 people in less than nine hours.
Sands said the effort was a good example of how the public can help in disaster responses.
"If we don't collaborate and work together, then we are weaker," he said before the video. "When incidents occur, we all need to pull together with all the resources we have."
As part of the conference's exposition, vendors touted everything from thermal imaging devices, to breathing masks, handguns, radiation and volatile organic compound detectors and other devices.
The conference runs three days.
E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter attwitter.com/johntunison
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