Much more on the NYPD THz scanner including a photo of the prototype

My note: Two follow-up articles. The first from the New York Times as brought to my attention by Tugboat on the IV investors board. As you can see this first article,  has a photo of the scanner, which is much larger, and bulkier, than I would have suspected. It's not a Genia Photonics product, as far as I can tell, and the London police reference suggests Leeds University, and Edward Linfield to me, but it will be fun to see who the vendor, actually turns out to be. The second article, reflects concerns by the NYC ACLU, about the use of such a powerful scanner, and how it may infringe on citizens 4th Amendment rights, to be free from search and seizure. 
The Advanced Photonix,(API), anomaly detection device, (the Saf-T-Chek), may find a real market in this arena when the legal issues, raise what appear to be difficult challenges to the actual use of this device. 
Welcome new readers!

Police Start Testing Device to Spot Concealed Guns

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

N.Y.P.D.An image generated by the New York Police Department’s body scanner, which is being developed to help detect concealed weapons. The numbered signs show the distance from the scanning device in meters.

The Police Department’s effort to deploy a portable device that can detect concealed handguns on the street has moved to the testing of an actual model in New York City, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Wednesday morning.

The device detects natural radiation emitted by people, and any object obstructing the flow of the radiation registers on an image produced by the device, Mr. Kelly said in his annual speech about the state of the Police Department.

“Over the past 12 months, we’ve been working with the vendor and the London Metropolitan Police to develop a tool that meets our requirements,” Mr. Kelly said. “We took delivery of it last week.”

In a recent test involving a plainclothes officer, Mr. Kelly said, the device produced a black image along the officer’s hip, where he was carrying a gun beneath a jersey. (The officer’s body appeared on the screen as bright green.)

“You get a sense of why we’re so hopeful about this tool,” Mr. Kelly said as he showed images of the test at a meeting of the New York City Police Foundation.

Mr. Kelly said the device, although large, can be mounted in the back of a truck. He first mentioned the possibility of such a device in a speech a year ago.

“We still have a number of trials to run before we can determine how best to deploy this technology,” Mr. Kelly said. “But we’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made over the past year.”

N.Y.P.D.The device, while not small, is portable enough that it can be placed in a vehicle.
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http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2013/jan/23/nypd-tests-new-detection-device/

NYPD Tests New Weapon Detection Device

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

By WNYC Newsroom

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  A simulation of how the detection device works. (NYPD)

The NYPD is testing a new device that could allow police to detect concealed weapons without a body search. Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the use of the terahertz-wave detection device during a speech before the New York City Foundation Wednesday.

Terahertz is described as a natural form of energy emitted by people and objects. Kelly said if something is blocking the flow of radiation – like a gun hidden in someone’s clothes – the device will highlight that object.

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the device could be a promising alternative to the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy – but that the technology could also raise other constitutional concerns.

"We have to be mindful of the concerns that everybody has about their privacy, even when they’re out on the street, because it’s our bodies,” she said.

She also said the NYCLU has a lot of questions about the new technology.

“I hope the police department will provide us with a transparent process so that we, so that the public understands, you know, exactly what this technology entails and what promises it offers,” she said.

Commissioner Kelly said the NYPD has been working with the vendor and the London Metropolitan Police to develop the device.