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NYPD Developing Heat-Seeking Gun-Detection Device

By DNAinfo Staff on January 17, 2012 3:34pm

The NYPD is developing a device that will use heat-seeking technology to detect guns.
The NYPD is developing a device that will use heat-seeking technology to detect guns.
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NYPD

By Matt Draper

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Stop and frisk is going high-tech.

The NYPD is developing a futuristic device to detect concealed firearms under the clothing of suspects using heat-seeking technology, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday.

The device, which is reportedly slated to be mounted on police vans, scans infrared, or heat rays that are naturally emitted from the body. Objects that don't give off the rays, such as metal, will stand out, Kelly said.

The device is designed to work at short range, about three to four feet, though Kelly, speaking at the Police Foundation breakfast, reportedly said he hopes that one day it will operate as far as 75 feet.

The NYPD began working on the device several years ago with the U.S. Department of Defense.