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LA To Become First In US To Install Subway Body Scanners (apnews.com)

Los Angeles officials announced Tuesday that the city's subway will become the first mass transit system in the U.S. to install body scanners that screen passengers for weapons and explosives. "The deployment of the portable scanners, which project waves to do full-body screenings of passengers walking through a station without slowing them down, will happen in the coming months, said Alex Wiggins, who runs the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's law enforcement division," reports the Associated Press reports: The machines scan for metallic and non-metallic objects on a person's body, can detect suspicious items from 30 feet (9 meters) away and have the capability of scanning more than 2,000 passengers per hour. On Tuesday, Pekoske and other officials demonstrated the new machines, which are being purchased from Thruvision, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. In addition to the Thruvision scanners, the agency is also planning to purchase other body scanners -- which resemble white television cameras on tripods -- that have the ability to move around and hone in on specific people and angles, Wiggins said. Signs will be posted at stations warning passengers they are subject to body scanner screening. The screening process is voluntary, Wiggins said, but customers who choose not be screened won't be able to ride on the subway.

3 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Re:voluntary by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is voluntary. Like paying of taxes.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  2. Re:voluntary by mukinrestak · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, no, no, it's like taxes. Paying taxes is voluntary, but citizens who choose not to just won't be allowed to reside outside of a prison.

  3. Re:"Waves," huh? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Funny

    Which brings to mind a countermeasure. A giant hand flipping the bird, made of tinfoil and glued to the inside of a shirt. Or the letters:
    FUCK
    YOU
    SWINE

    (more to the point)