American Science & Engineering (AS&E), a Massachusetts-based company, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners (ZBVs) mounted in vans that allow law enforcement to peer inside nearby vehicles. To date, the biggest buyer in the federal government is the Department of Defense, which has purchased the specially-equipped vehicles for use in Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

But a company executive told Forbes that law enforcement agencies are also using the vans to search for car bombs in the U.S. AS&E, which bills its product as “a non-intrusive inspection technology,” also promotes the vans for use against the smuggling of drugs and humans.

 

In the words of AS&E, “In Stationary Scan Mode, ZBV operators may elect to scan the occupants of the subject vehicle. For this application, AS&E offers a Personnel Scanning option that may better enable the customer to meet any applicable country-specific regulatory requirements.”

 

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop its use of backscatter scanners at airport checkpoints, arguing the equipment’s use is a violation of the fourth amendment. “Without a warrant, the government doesn’t have a right to peer beneath your clothes without probable cause,” Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC, told Forbes. “If the scans can only be used in exceptional cases in airports, the idea that they can be used routinely on city streets is a very hard argument to make.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans (by Andy Greenberg, Forbes)

Z Backscatter Van™ Mobile Screening System (American Science and Engineering)