Dutch Police Develop Mobile Body Scans

Dutch News.nl
Friday, January 8, 2009

Rotterdam police are trying to develop a portable scanner which will
allow them to see through people’s clothing and look for
concealed weapons, the NRC reports on Friday.

The force has been given a €500,000 government grant to develop
the mobile weapons detector, which would use similar technology to the
scanners being introduced at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the
paper says.

The aim is to develop a prototype ready for production within three years.

The paper bases its claim on a confidential document which suggests
the scanner could first be used as an alternative to random body
searches in high risk areas. The mobile detector would enable the
search to be carried out more quickly and would only be used on people
suspected of carrying concealed weapons, police spokesman Paul De
Kruijf told the paper.

The document also mentions the possibility of carrying out
long-distance scans and mass scans on crowds at events such as football
matches. In addition, the scan could be combined with a sniffer
detector which would analyse an ‘air sample’ from a suspect
for traces of drugs or explosives, the paper says.

Full story here.