NCJ Number
178814
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 47 Issue: 8 Dated: August 1999 Pages: 51-56
Date Published
August 1999
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes technology advancements that can improve the ability of police to detect threat assessments from afar.
Abstract
Remotely operated vehicles are used for moving bombs and exploring hazardous materials spills; however, even the most skilled operator is handicapped by lack of stereo vision and depth perception through the single-camera video image used to control and guide the robot. ETI Products has a laser guidance system that projects a three-dot pattern onto the object to be grasped, thus making it easier for operators to grasp the object. VACIS (Mobile Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System) technology developed by Science Applications International Corporation is a giant x-ray machine, capable of yielding a real-time Superman- view of the interior of a box car, truck trailer, or other vehicle. In the Mini-Raman Lidar technology, two scientific technologies are combined to provide remote detection and analysis of hazardous substances without exposing public-safety workers to injury. For seeing through walls, time-modulated radio energy can be used in the same way as conventional radar, but with far lower power requirements, risk of detection, and risk to people in the vicinity. Torfino Enterprises has developed a hand-held metal detector intended for daily carry by patrol and booking officers. An innovative aspect of the unit is its ability to alert the user to the presence of metal by silently vibrating the grip, so that only the user knows that the detector has activated. This article also provides information on technology that facilitates the remote detection of concealed weapons and that can detect trace explosives and drugs. Information is provided on the companies that produce the devices described in this article.