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NYPD to Test Technology That Scans Concealed Weapons, Kelly Says

By Trevor Kapp | January 23, 2013 2:02pm

NEW YORK CITY — The NYPD is testing technology that would allow police to detect concealed weapons, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday.

The city's top cop said the tool — which reads terahertz, energy emitted by people and objects — is part of an overall push by the department to continue to make the technological strides necessary to fight crime and terrorism.

"If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation — for example, a weapon — the device will highlight that object,” Kelly said at the Waldorf Astoria, where he addressed members and guests of the New York City Police Foundation. “We’re still very much in the testing phase, but we’re certainly encouraged by the developments that we’ve seen.”

Kelly added that the department has been working with the London Metropolitan Police over the last year to develop the tool, which the NYPD successfully tested inside a truck recently.

He added that the technology, which was delivered last week, still had to go through a number of trial runs before it can deploy it.

"But we're very pleased with the progress we've mad over the past year," he said.

“This technology is going to get there,” he added. “It’s a matter of time.”

The NYPD has also partnered with Microsoft to form the Domain Awareness System, which will allow the department to gather data — through tools such as cameras and license plate readers — on a dashboard, giving it a widespread view of potential threats and crime.

“We can do all of this and much more, all from a desktop,” Kelly said. “This capacity doesn’t exist anywhere else in law enforcement.”

Microsoft has agreed to pay the city 30 percent of its gross revenues on the sale of the system to customers across the world, Kelly said. The funds will be used to further develop crime and counter-terrorism prevention methods.