Weapons detectors in service worldwide

Josey1

Weapons detectors in service worldwide By CHRIS ROBERTS The Associated Press EL PASO - Ranger Security Devices began making mine sweepers and metal detectors used by beachcombers in 1966. Today, its walk-through detectors, designed to find weapons before their owners can wreak mayhem in a school, courtroom or airplane, are being sold around the world.Spokesman Les Burk said some of Ranger's equipment is sensitive enough to pinpoint where an offending object is being carried. The machines also identify objects that don't pose a threat, reducing some of the need for people to undress before passing through the metal arches."We can determine whether or not there is enough mass to be a weapon," Burk said.And its machines can be fine-tuned enough to pick up the relatively weak signals from small amounts of metal in the fuses or caps used in explosive devices, Burk said.Israel installed Ranger detectors, sheathed in furniture-quality wood, in its Supreme Court buildings. Thousands of Ranger detectors are used at schools, mostly in the Eastern and Southern United States."We were back ordered a couple of weeks ago, but now we're keeping up with it," Ranger production manager Patrick Perez said recently. "We're sending 50 units to Egypt and we're sending them to Singapore and Thailand."Ranger employs about 60 people in its factory and sells about $10 million worth of detectors each year.Burk said he believes that small regional airports are the greatest security risk, allowing terrorists to move about the country with only occasional checks performed with outdated equipment. Last month, 10,000 people were evacuated from Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport after a man ducked security on the way back to his gate. The airport was closed for four hours while airport authorities and police searched for him."That was a $10 million delay, and with all the other things that were affected, it could cost as much as $40 million," Burk said. "That airport could have been refitted and completely secure for the cost of a two-hour breach."The company predicts that metal detectors of the future will sniff for traces of radioactivity and search for familiar faces in the crowd.Ranger is working with another company to adapt its detectors to sense radioactive material. Such equipment could be used both to ensure that workers are not smuggling the material out of secured facilities and to ensure that the material is not transported around the country, Burk said.Ranger is also working on a technology that will integrate a camera connected to a computer that can recognize faces, Burk said.The recognition software, which identifies 89 points on a person's face and uses a mathematical formula to make matches, is about 90 percent accurate, he said."But it still comes down to a human being. It's not a computer decision," Burk said.Other companies are testing the technology, known as biometrics, in airports in Boston and Providence, R.I. http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fortworth/2001/12/29/state/fw010401-1229-XB005-2.htm