Friday, January 27, 2012
TG Daily
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) teamed up with US Special Forces troops Wednesday evening for a night of "multi-agency" counter-terrorism tactical exercises.
Residents of the sprawling city observed a Black Hawk helicopter and four OH-6 choppers flying over Los Angeles, with the fleet hovering above the US Bank building downtown and flying low over the Staples
Center.
Meanwhile, LA news station CBS KCAL9 managed to identify a Black Hawk making what appeared to be a practice drop off in a local park before flying off.
The LAPD issued an official statement explaining that the training exercises would help ensure the military’s ability to safely and effectively operate within urban environments.
Chief Warrant Officer David Duran told KCAL9 the Los Angeles training exercises could be a dry run for a future mission.
"They do a lot of mockup training... But it’s always best to get the closest terrain layout to what the objective is," he explained.
"If it’s a mountainous terrain, they go to the mountains; if it’s a desert terrain, they use the desert; if they’re in a coastal terrain, they use the coast. If it’s an urban terrain, you know, whatever’s needed."
Similar exercises - which were held in NYC, Miami and Boston - have prompted concern over what appears to be the rapid militarization of local police departments. Indeed, since 9/11, the DHS has shelled out more than $34 billion in federal grants arming precincts with military grade equipment and advanced tech.
For example, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and US Department of Defense (DoD) are currently testing a new system that uses terahertz imaging to detect hidden weapons.
Unsurprisingly, the use of such invasive technology has prompted a slew of concerned statements from privacy advocates who believe the arbitrary use of terahertz imaging violates human rights. To be sure, the system is capable of measuring energy radiating from an individual up to 16-feet away, while detecting anomalies like a firearm.
..[Full Article]
Labels: LAPD, Los Angeles, Special Forces, terahertz imaging
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 18, 2012
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS in New York his department is looking to deploy Terahertz Imaging Detection scanners on the street in the war on “illegal guns.”
Kelly said the scanners would be used in “reasonably suspicious circumstances” and intended to cut down on the number of stop-and-frisks on the street. So called stop-and-frisks are considered a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
New York City is largely a Second Amendment free zone. The city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has said that citizens “acting outside of any governmental military effort” should not be allowed to protect themselves with firearms.
“The NYPD and Department of Defense are working together testing Terahertz Imaging Detection, a new way to get concealed illegal weapons off the streets,” CBS reports. Terahertz Imaging Detection measures energy radiating from the body up to 16 feet away and can detect anything blocking it.
The ACLU and civil libertarians oppose the effort to use the technology on the street. “It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” the NYCLU’s Donna Lieberman said.
In addition to violating the Fourth Amendment, the proposed technology would subject citizens to a documented health risk – the destruction of DNA.
Studies reveal that THz waves “unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication,” according to MIT’s Technology Review.
For more information, see this paper posted at the Cornell University Library.
If we are to believe CBS, most residents either are not concerned about the privacy aspects of the technology or think it is a reasonable trade-off to stop gun crime and terrorism.
CBS does not mention the ability of THz to destroy DNA. If they did, no doubt most people interviewed would oppose the new technology.
Labels: firearms, guns, NYPD, terahertz imaging
Terahertz Imaging Detection Out To Detect Illegal Concealed Weapons
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The NYPD is stepping up their war against illegal guns, with a new tool that could detect weapons on someone as they walk down the street.
But is it violating your right to privacy?
Police, along with the U.S. Department of Defense, are researching new technology in a scanner placed on police vehicles that can detect concealed weapons.
“You could use it at a specific event. You could use it at a shooting-prone location,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez on Tuesday.
It’s called Terahertz Imaging Detection. It measures the energy radiating from a body up to 16 feet away, and can detect anything blocking it, like a gun...[Full Article]
Labels: firearms, guns, New York City, NYPD, terahertz imaging
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