The NYPD is developing a new device that can detect whether a perp is carrying heat without frisking him, Commissioner Ray Kelly announced today.
The large mechanism uses infrared rays to scan a “form of radiation emitted from the body” of someone who is concealing a gun on the streets of the Big Apple, Kelly said at the Police Foundation’s State of the NYPD breakfast.
Since the infrared rays cannot pass through metal, the device provides officers with a digital outline of exactly where the firearm has been tucked away on the subject’s body, Kelly said.
Three years ago, the department started working with the United States Department of Defense and a manufacturer to develop the new technology.
Kelly said the device only works at a short range – 3 to 4 feet away – but that he’s hoping it will operate at a farther distance of 25 meters.
The gadget will be mounted on an NYPD van with the infrared rays shooting up the street at the person.