I'm beginning to see that there isn't anything that the NYPD won't grab as a new widget or idea to fight the hordes of terrorists coming after their city. The latest reported gizmo is an "Interdiction of Radiation Emitting Material" or IREM device. From the NY Post:
*Here's a close-up look at one of the city's top defenses against radioactive "dirty" bombs. *
*This super-high-tech sensor can quickly detect and analyze nearly any source of radiation, from medical waste to weapons-grade uranium. *
*The system is called "IREM" for Interdiction of Radiation Emitting Material. *
*The device is one of "various types of equipment used to detect radiological signatures," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. *
"Obviously, that is what we are most concerned about: radiological material used as a weapon."
Yes, that's right. Not sarin, which actually has been used in a major city's subway system. Not anthrax, which actually was sent through the U.S. mail system. They're worried about the one CBRN hazard that hasn't been used as a terrorist device, and if used, would cause more economic damage than actual casualties. And to whom did the NYPD turn to for this wonderful device?
*There have been four IREM devices operating in the city since the Republican National Convention in 2004, police said. *
*The IREMs can also be deployed near or on bridges to scan marine traffic. *
*Each device costs $250,000, police said, and can be operated by a small crew. They are manufactured with technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the nation's premier nuclear-research lab and birthplace of the atomic bomb. *
*Thousands of patrolmen also carry smaller, less sensitive radiation-detection devices that can be clipped to their belts. They cost about $12,000 each. *
Most recently, the IREMs came out in force on Aug. 10 after news reports of a possible dirty-bomb attack in Manhattan.
You have to love the DOE labs. If they can't get funds to research new nuclear weapons, they'll be entrepreneurs in protecting the nation from imagined terrorist threats. I have to wonder about those radiation dosimeters that the patrolmen are using. I may have old data, but the Army's AN/UDR-13 Pocket Radiac costs less than a thousand dollars. But then again, when your city's getting more federal funds than its leadership knows what to do with, I guess you have to spend it on something extravagant.
I'm beginning to see that there isn't anything that the NYPD won't grab as a new widget or idea to fight the hordes of terrorists coming after their city. The latest reported gizmo is an "Interdiction of Radiation Emitting Material" or IREM device. From the NY Post:
