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Dutch police try to develop x-ray vision
The Dutch police are trying to develop a portable device that can see through people's clothing to check for concealed weapons. Their goal is to have a prototype operational in three years.
It might be the wet dream of every police agent. A portable weapons-detector to see through the clothing of people on the street, checking for pistols, knives and brass knuckles. A futuristic fantasy? Actually, the technology already exists. Look at the security scanners installed at Amsterdam's schiphol airport for flights to the US. They were a response to the thwarted bombing of a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. So-called millimetre-wave technology helps the scanners detect banned items, explosive powders and liquids in pockets or on bodies.
So why not develop new, better and smaller versions as quickly as possible? Detectors that can see through people's clothing from metres away, so portable they can be used on the street. That's the question that occurred to the police in Rotterdam Rijnmond, the region surrounding Rotterdam.