Smiths Detection recently said it has teamed with Michael Stapleton Associates (MSA) to link an X-ray screening system with a two-way communications system for remote bomb-detection verification, providing support to front line security screeners.
The arrangement utilizes Smiths HI-SCAN 7555i X-ray system, which is designed for screening bags and parcels, and MSA's SmartTech high-speed two-way video and audio system.
"SmartTech brings expert evaluation to security professionals screening packages in lobbies, court rooms, jails and points of critical infrastructure throughout North America," Bret Bader, vice president and general manager civil business for Smiths Detection in North America, said in a statement. Smiths Detection is a division of Britain's Smiths Group.
Through SmartTech, MSA's bomb technicians, who are on full-time alert at the company's command center in New York City, analyze images taken by the X-ray system and provide real-time interpretation and verification. MSA's bomb technicians include experts from law enforcement agencies such as the New York Police Department Bomb Squad and have specific training in X-ray interpretation to identify improvised explosives devices, and are graduates of the FBI Hazardous Devices School.
The HI-SCAN and SmartTech systems are both certified by the Department of Homeland Security under the anti-terror technology provision of the Safety Act.
