NYPD "Working on Technology to Detect Concealed Guns"

[Euromutt]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/police-working-on-technology-to-detect-concealed-guns/

The tool would operate as a sort of reverse infrared mapping tool by reading the energy people emit and pinpointing where that flow is blocked by some object, like a gun.

“If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation — for example, a weapon — the device will highlight that object,” <Police commissioner Raymond> Kelly said in his annual speech about the state of the Police Department. “This technology has shown a great deal of promise as a way of detecting weapons without a physical search.”

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said that while the group yearned for solutions to gun violence, the proposal was worrisome. “We have no idea how this technology works, if it is effective, and what its error rate is,” she said. “If the N.Y.P.D. is moving forward with this, the public needs more information about this technology, how it works and the dangers it presents.”

I'm skeptical, if for no other reason that if a weapon will block emitted radiation, so will other objects (phones, wallets, multitools, etc.). While the NYPD brass may believe this device will do what they claim, I strongly suspect it'll wind up being yet another "high-tech" fig leaf for circumventing the Fourth Amendment by providing cops an excuse to claim reasonable suspicion where really none exists. They might as well issue dowsing rods to patrol officers.

[oneshooter]

2. It works by homing in on the ............

"Aura of Evil" that radiates from any weapon, but really hard from a concealed weapon. It is this "Aura of Evil" that causes a perfectly sane person to commit crimes of great horror and pain against the poor innocents that they come across in their travels.
So we poor innocents to whom the Police have sworn a sacred oath to "Protect and Defend" are safer now that this wonderfull machine is available.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas


In case it is needed

[Glassunion]

3. +1

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. Now that the technology...

...has been developed, marketing needs to step in with a catchy product name. I'd like to suggest 'toter detector'.

Any other ideas?

[X_Digger]

5. Too wordy.. how about 'Totatector 9000' n/t

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. And further...

...in the fine tradition of '*67' and 'VG-2' technology, we will need a 'Totatector' detector.