Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Headline: NYPD, Feds Testing Gun-Scanning Technology, But Civil Liberties Groups Up In Arms

OFF THE WIRE
New York City's CBS News affiliate is reporting on a new technology that could detect weapons on someone as they walk down the street.
From the article:
Police, along with the U.S. Department of Defense, are researching new technology in a scanner placed on police vehicles that can detect concealed weapons.
"You could use it at a specific event. You could use it at a shooting-prone location," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez on Tuesday.
It's called Terahertz Imaging Detection. It measures the energy radiating from a body up to 16 feet away, and can detect anything blocking it, like a gun.
"I think it's good. People will be safer and it will be a safer environment," Jessica Ramos said.
"I think it's all about invading people's lives more and more and more," Antonio Gabriel added.
Police Commissioner Kelly said the scanner would only be used in reasonably suspicious circumstances and could cut down on the number of stop-and-frisks on the street.
But according to the article, even civil liberties groups known for ignoring the Second Amendment are raising a red flag.
The New York Civil Liberties Union's Donna Lieberman is quoted as saying that "it's worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you're doing nothing wrong."