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Kenya Police: Our Fake Bomb Detectors Are Real

Posted by timothy on from the but-how-are-the-elephant-detectors? dept.

First time accepted submitter NF6X writes "Following the conviction of British conman James McCormick for selling fake bomb detectors which were in fact rebadged novelty golf ball divining rods, Nairobi police chief Benson Githinji stated to reporters that his department's fake bomb detectors are serviceable, and contributed towards a recent elimination of successful grenade attacks."

6 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Works just fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Give intern new shiny bomb detector
    2) Send intern to walk around field for a while
    3) Intern blows up
    4) Success - bomb detected!
    5) Added bonus - bomb removed!

  2. Re:no testing I guess? by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Police work in any country is more about the appearance of security than actual security. It doesn't matter if it works. It only matters if it keeps people calm.

    I'm not advocating this as the way it should be, just the way it is. We'd all actually be safer if we switched to evidence based policing. But then the government couldn't get away with shit like the War on Drug Users.

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  3. Thailand too.... by ShawnDoc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    About 2 years ago, when it came to light these bomb detectors were totally fake, the Thai government, who has bought a whole bunch of these came out insisting they were real and worked. My hunch is there are no "real" portable bomb detectors (other than a trained dog), and government middle managers under pressure to buy bomb detectors bought the only thing on the market claiming to do that regardless of whether it worked or not. They knew it didn't work, but the politicians further up the chain didn't care, they just wanted to be able to say they'd purchased bomb detectors and people would be safe. Alternately, maybe James was just really good at structuring kickbacks and bribes to the decision makers. Its not like Thailand, Iraq or Kenya's governments are corruption free.

  4. Won't work. by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    Didn't you read the summary? It's a fake bomb detector. It won't detect real bombs.

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    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Re:"Security theatre" for real? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They would be useful, even if fake, if terrorists thought them real and skipped attempts.

    FBI and friends use lie detectors even though they are hogwash. I assume it's for the same reason: to scare people rather than use as a physical filter. Only the high-level strategists need know it doesn't work -- the plebe agents don't.

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  6. Re:no testing I guess? by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Problem is confirmation bais is really easy to sell on people, so they honestly believe they did test it out and it worked.

    You are only saying that because you want people to believe in confirmation bias.

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