Re: The Nicolet Secure 1000

[Tad Blanchard <Tad.M.Blanchard.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

The Federal organization responsible for approval of this item would
probably be the FDA, Center for Devices and Radiological Health in
Rockville, MD. (I don't believe the NRC handles xray devices..
 

At 01:24 PM 4/10/97 -0500, you wrote:
>The Nicolet Secure 1000 is apparently already in use
>in North Carolina at the State Prisons.  I don't 
>know if NC is an agreement state or not, but this
>system has apparently met regulatory tests to be
>operated. Someone from the NRC or an agreement state
>would be good to hear from on any regulatory challenges
>(or basis) to using a system of this type that does expose
>the general public to ionizing radiation for non-medical 
>purposes.
>
>To share more on the system here in the US, an AP article
>published in the April 8th Philadelphia Daily News (this
>story was also in this morning's San Diego Union
>Tribune):
>===============================================================
>
>If you're packin' heat, this X-ray will find it 
>-----------------------------------------------
>
>
>Associated Press
>RALEIGH, N.C. -- The next generation of weapons detectors is deadly 
>accurate, able to look through clothes to find guns, explosives and even 
>syringes and drug vials that can be tucked into rolls of fat.
>
>About the size of a voting booth, a machine manufactured by Nicolet 
>Imaging Systems of San Diego goes beyond metal detectors to show any 
>solid object. It is being tested at North Carolina's Central Prison and 
>the federal courthouse in Los Angeles.
>
>``It's a very low-level X-ray,'' Capt. Marshall Hudson, a correction 
>officer said during a demonstration yesterday. ``It's going to show 
>everybody has something on them, keys and pens. Things you can't 
>identify are things you want to do a more thorough search on.'' Hudson, 
>who looked at the image of a fellow officer flashed on a video screen, 
>said the $100,000 machine is capable of showing shin bones near the skin 
>and even a person's private parts on the ``uncloak mode.''
>
>While police groups are intrigued, civil libertarians are concerned 
>because the same technology is being developed by other manufacturers 
>into a hand-held model, which will enable police to detect a weapon 
>hidden under someone's clothing up to 60 feet away.
>
>A version could be ready for testing in 18 months and in use in four 
>years.
>
>``It becomes a question of how intrusive they are,'' said Mark 
>Kappelhoff, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, 
>which questioned law enforcement's need to view the human anatomy.
>
>The National Rifle Association also was concerned that the machines 
>could hinder the right in some states to carry a concealed firearm.
>
>``I think right now there are a lot more questions than there are 
>answers,'' said NRA spokesman Chip Walker.
>
>But officials who represent police officers disagreed.
>
>``Anything that enhances public safety and officer safety, we're for,'' 
>said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the 
>nation's largest police group with 277,000 members.
>
>Gerald Arenberg, spokesman for the National Association of Chiefs of 
>Police, noted that a police officer is killed every 57 hours in the 
>United States and that 189 cops are assaulted daily. 
>Judd M. Sills, CHP           |   Office: (619)455-2049
>General Atomics, Room 01-166C|      Fax: (619)455-3181
>3550 General Atomics Court   |   E-Mail:  sillsj@gat.com
>San Diego, CA  92121         |
>
>
**************************** /^\   /^\ *********************************
Tad  Blanchard              /__ \ /___\    NASA-Goddard Space Flt Ctr 
Nat'l Health Svc, Inc            O             Greenbelt, Maryland     
Sr Health Physics Tech          / \            Phone: 301-286-9157     
Assistant RSO                  /___\           Fax:   301-286-1618       
                 mailto:Tad.M.Blanchard.1@GSFC.NASA.gov                   
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