The REAL POLICE FORUM is a leading community of police officers and law enforcement professionals. The forum includes police chat and restricted areas for police officers only. The ask-a-cop area allows you to ask questions to real police officers and only verified police are allowed to respond. REALPOLICE.com also features law enforcement jobs, news, training materials and expert articles.kazz
02-04-11, 07:52 AM
FORGET sniffer dogs, crack teams of mice are being trained to detect bombers and drugs couriers at airports.
The sniffer rodents are then hidden in airport scanners, ready to raise the alarm. The detector has been built by Israeli researchers who say it is more accurate than using dogs, pat downs and x-ray machines. It looks like a metal detector or full-body scanner, but one side of it houses three concealed cartridges, each containing eight specially trained mice. The animals work four-hour shifts, milling around in an allocated cartridge while sniffing air pumped in from outside. When they pick up traces of explosives or drugs, they flee to a side chamber, triggering an alarm, New Scientist reports.
The concept may appeal to those who fear that the full-body scanners introduced at many airports are exposing them to harmful radiation and invading privacy. Security expert Bruce Schneier told New Scientist: "Animals" noses are always a good solution, and the mice don"t see you naked."
Anti-terrorist mice to hit airports | Herald Sun (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/news/mice-that-can-trap-terrorists/story-fn32891l-1226000201631)
The sniffer rodents are then hidden in airport scanners, ready to raise the alarm. The detector has been built by Israeli researchers who say it is more accurate than using dogs, pat downs and x-ray machines. It looks like a metal detector or full-body scanner, but one side of it houses three concealed cartridges, each containing eight specially trained mice. The animals work four-hour shifts, milling around in an allocated cartridge while sniffing air pumped in from outside. When they pick up traces of explosives or drugs, they flee to a side chamber, triggering an alarm, New Scientist reports.
The concept may appeal to those who fear that the full-body scanners introduced at many airports are exposing them to harmful radiation and invading privacy. Security expert Bruce Schneier told New Scientist: "Animals" noses are always a good solution, and the mice don"t see you naked."
Anti-terrorist mice to hit airports | Herald Sun (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/news/mice-that-can-trap-terrorists/story-fn32891l-1226000201631)