Weapon-scanner raises Constitutional concern
BOULDER, Colo., May 30 (UPI) -- A federal agency is developing a radar-like device that uses electromagnetic waves to
peer through clothing and detect concealed weapons from up to 15 meters (50 feet) away.
News of the planned system comes amid national angst over domestic terrorism while adding a new dimension to the debate
over the Constitutionality of high-tech policing practices.
Government sources said they hope to have a working prototype of the device by year's end. The apparatus could one day be
mounted on police vehicles and driven through unruly crowds to spot individuals carrying guns, knives and perhaps even plastic
explosives.
Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Boulder, Colo. office are developing the technology with
funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration. NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency.
The technology is based upon a radar-like apparatus that illuminates groups of people with low-level electromagnetic waves
that penetrate clothing but reflect off objects concealed beneath them. The reflected energy is collected, focused onto a
detector array and ultimately transformed into an image that is displayed on a policeman's laptop, said sources at NIST.
However, "When does a technology-based search constitute a search for constitutional purposes? How do you evaluate the
level of intrusiveness?" posed James Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based privacy
group.
Dempsey said U.S. courts have held that airport metal detectors do not violate the Fourth Amendment about unreasonalbe
search and seizure in part because such searches are overt and minimally intrusive, and because individuals have a choice not to
board an airplane.
"In this case, your right to be in the street and particularly your right to protest is more significant than the right to get on a jet
plane. Furthermore, the use of this device is not overt and there is no warning of it. Already, there are two strikes against it," he
told United Press International.
"My concern is over the way we think about these technological tools," said Kristian Miccio, professor of law from Western
State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif. "I fear we will put the concept of unruly crowds and crime on the back
burner while putting the technologies to enhance law enforcement on the front burner.
"In our fear of crime and terrorism, we are giving up so many freedoms we haven't thought about," she continued in a telephone
interview with UPI. "We have to decide what kind of culture and society we want to live in, that is, what are we willing to
sacrifice in a war on crime."
The system uses a high-powered, commercially available power source that operates at 95 gigahertz in a pulsed mode. NIST
engineers said that such a power range would not impact human health or cause stoppages in pacemakers.
"What we are doing is more along lines of radar," said Erich Grossman, a NIST researcher on the project. "We illuminate an
area with high frequency radiation or three-millimeter-wavelength millimeter waves. That allows us to see details but anything
finer than three millimeters we won't see."
While millimeter waves do not penetrate deep into human tissue, the device could conceivable detect, say, a metal plate near
the surface of an individual's skin, said Grossman. But, he said, the system produces images of objects rather simply detecting
them, which would allow officers to discriminate between benign objects and weapons.
Grossman said the device is more powerful than airport metal detectors.
"That's because our system doesn't require a cooperative subject," he said. "In other words, it's not a portal-based system
where a subject has to cooperatively walk through a particular area. That is not intent of this program."
He said the device could operate in two modes. It can image an area two meters in diameter, which could cover one or two
people. If the system detects a hotspot on a particular individual, the operator can zoom in more closely.
Experts said legal considerations over such a device are analogous to those involved in a case currently pending before the
Supreme Court.
Police in 1992 arrested an Oregon man after authorities used a high-tech device to sense invisible heat waves emanating from
his home. Police subsequently obtained a search warrant and found a marijuana growing operation. The suspect, Kyllo, claimed
the search violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.
"Like the Kyllo case, here is another technology that raises what is currently a major issue under the Fourth Amendment," said
Dempsey.
"There are many things to consider such as how intrusive is this search? Is it like taking a person's clothes off? Can the police
see a people's body or do they only get an image of the weapon? Those are factual questions that make a difference in how it is
accessed from a privacy standpoint," he said.
When asked if officers would be able to see a detailed image of a human body, Grossman said that in theory engineers could
incorporate a digital camera into the device, allowing the millimeter image to be superimposed over an optical image. Such a
move would let officers see a person's body in detail.
"In a practical system you could certainly do that, but we are not planning to do that with the prototype," Grossman said.
Officials at the National Institute of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration said they could not provide comment by
press time.
The agencies have funded the project to the tune of $200,000 a year for about three years, said Grossman.
BOULDER, Colo., May 30 (UPI) -- A federal agency is developing a radar-like device that uses electromagnetic waves to
peer through clothing and detect concealed weapons from up to 15 meters (50 feet) away.
News of the planned system comes amid national angst over domestic terrorism while adding a new dimension to the debate
over the Constitutionality of high-tech policing practices.
Government sources said they hope to have a working prototype of the device by year's end. The apparatus could one day be
mounted on police vehicles and driven through unruly crowds to spot individuals carrying guns, knives and perhaps even plastic
explosives.
Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Boulder, Colo. office are developing the technology with
funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration. NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency.
The technology is based upon a radar-like apparatus that illuminates groups of people with low-level electromagnetic waves
that penetrate clothing but reflect off objects concealed beneath them. The reflected energy is collected, focused onto a
detector array and ultimately transformed into an image that is displayed on a policeman's laptop, said sources at NIST.
However, "When does a technology-based search constitute a search for constitutional purposes? How do you evaluate the
level of intrusiveness?" posed James Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based privacy
group.
Dempsey said U.S. courts have held that airport metal detectors do not violate the Fourth Amendment about unreasonalbe
search and seizure in part because such searches are overt and minimally intrusive, and because individuals have a choice not to
board an airplane.
"In this case, your right to be in the street and particularly your right to protest is more significant than the right to get on a jet
plane. Furthermore, the use of this device is not overt and there is no warning of it. Already, there are two strikes against it," he
told United Press International.
"My concern is over the way we think about these technological tools," said Kristian Miccio, professor of law from Western
State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif. "I fear we will put the concept of unruly crowds and crime on the back
burner while putting the technologies to enhance law enforcement on the front burner.
"In our fear of crime and terrorism, we are giving up so many freedoms we haven't thought about," she continued in a telephone
interview with UPI. "We have to decide what kind of culture and society we want to live in, that is, what are we willing to
sacrifice in a war on crime."
The system uses a high-powered, commercially available power source that operates at 95 gigahertz in a pulsed mode. NIST
engineers said that such a power range would not impact human health or cause stoppages in pacemakers.
"What we are doing is more along lines of radar," said Erich Grossman, a NIST researcher on the project. "We illuminate an
area with high frequency radiation or three-millimeter-wavelength millimeter waves. That allows us to see details but anything
finer than three millimeters we won't see."
While millimeter waves do not penetrate deep into human tissue, the device could conceivable detect, say, a metal plate near
the surface of an individual's skin, said Grossman. But, he said, the system produces images of objects rather simply detecting
them, which would allow officers to discriminate between benign objects and weapons.
Grossman said the device is more powerful than airport metal detectors.
"That's because our system doesn't require a cooperative subject," he said. "In other words, it's not a portal-based system
where a subject has to cooperatively walk through a particular area. That is not intent of this program."
He said the device could operate in two modes. It can image an area two meters in diameter, which could cover one or two
people. If the system detects a hotspot on a particular individual, the operator can zoom in more closely.
Experts said legal considerations over such a device are analogous to those involved in a case currently pending before the
Supreme Court.
Police in 1992 arrested an Oregon man after authorities used a high-tech device to sense invisible heat waves emanating from
his home. Police subsequently obtained a search warrant and found a marijuana growing operation. The suspect, Kyllo, claimed
the search violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.
"Like the Kyllo case, here is another technology that raises what is currently a major issue under the Fourth Amendment," said
Dempsey.
"There are many things to consider such as how intrusive is this search? Is it like taking a person's clothes off? Can the police
see a people's body or do they only get an image of the weapon? Those are factual questions that make a difference in how it is
accessed from a privacy standpoint," he said.
When asked if officers would be able to see a detailed image of a human body, Grossman said that in theory engineers could
incorporate a digital camera into the device, allowing the millimeter image to be superimposed over an optical image. Such a
move would let officers see a person's body in detail.
"In a practical system you could certainly do that, but we are not planning to do that with the prototype," Grossman said.
Officials at the National Institute of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration said they could not provide comment by
press time.
The agencies have funded the project to the tune of $200,000 a year for about three years, said Grossman.
