Radiation detectors in police cars

Things that make you go Hmmmm.

Radioactive man? Milford resident pulled over by state police
Mike Apatow was minding his own business Wednesday, driving to an appointment for work in Washington Depot when a state police car appeared suddenly and signaled for the Milford resident to pull over.

Apatow, 42, was entering Interstate 84 in Newtown when the cruiser appeared, and he had no idea what he'd done to merit police attention. It turns out he didn't do anything.

But earlier that day, Apatow, who'd experienced a recent spike in his blood pressure, had a nuclear stress test at Cardiology Associates of Fairfield County in Trumbull. In the test, a small amount of a radioactive material is injected into the veins and used to help track blood flow to the heart.

Though the amount of radioactive material used in the test is relatively low –– equal to a few X-rays or a diagnostic CT scan –– it was enough to set off a radioactivity detector in the state police car. The detectors are used to help identify potential terror threats.

"I asked the officer `What seems to be the problem?' " Apatow said. "He said `You've been flagged as a radioactive car.' "

Apatow's doctor had given him a document attesting that he'd had a medical procedure involving a small amount of radioactive material that he handed to the officer. A Stratford firefighter, Apatow was more curious than annoyed by the incident.

"I had no idea the police even had devices like that," he said. "I imagined it being like a cartoon –– like I'm driving down the street and my car was glowing."

State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance confirmed that many of the state police cars have the radioactivity detectors. "It's part of our homeland security operations here," Vance said. "It's just another layer of public safety that we have in this state."

yeah, bullshit, if it was that sensitive it would be set off by millions of other things that are radioactive




there, it makes sense now.

Same bs when small towns get heavy MGs, 50 cals, or armored cars, they dont need it but they got if "free" from the govt, ie your pocket

We carry Personal Radiation Detectors in our line of work (CBP); they detect minute spikes in radiation. We also train extensively on how to tell the difference, since anything that's earth-based can seep radiation, from bananas to earthen pottery and adobe tiles... Since our PRDs cannot tell the difference between Barium, which is used in industrial sensors and gauges, or Iodie-131, used extensively as in nuclear medicine or Uranium 235, the main ingredient in nuclear weapons, we sometimes have to be careful and to that end, we are extensively trained in procedures that help us ID the sources and we have protocols that we follow in order to ID these sources of radiation - OPSEC withstanding...

Cardiac stress tests is a common reason my PRD spikes, since patients are injected with a dye that has Tc-201 (Thallous Chloride-201) which is a radio-isotope; I usually ask a person if he or she had had a stress test or any type of cancer treatment in the past, if they say yes, then is a quick Q&A session and I let them proceed on their way.

We have them in some of our fire trucks.... While driving past a company doing some sort of fiber optic/construction exploring work of some sort, it went off...Our NBC guru said exactly what black tiger said.. probably sensors or gaugues filled with barium or even the earth itself!

IIRC, depending on what you recieve, you are reading a hunderd mR/hr or so when you walk out of the doctor's office.

Dies of in a day or two

That's pretty fascinating. I assume these are directional devices?

And that is supposed to be "detectable" from outside a moving automobile?
I call DEEP bullshit on this one.

So the cop just guessed and happened to pull over the right car?

Sounds like the detector works buy may be more sensative than needed.

Never knew the Ct state police were that high tech...learned something new today.

My radiation detector went off in my pocket in walmart a few months ago.

It read 3 uSvts/hr when ths guy was 30 feet away and 86 uSvts/hr when he was 2 feet away.

So yes, a detector in a police car could detect someone that had a medical isotope.

i've never seen or heard of a radiation detector in a cop car in 10 years on the job.

Not bullshit, they are that sensitive. We carry a Personal Radiation Detector on our belts and that fucking thing will alert if I'm at an airport because of how thick the concrete is; concrete naturally emits radiation. I went to clear a private flight from a foreign country and my PRD was beeping like crazy and our other piece of radiation detection equipment was singing like a fucking canary while I was standing OUTSIDE the the plane. Turns out one of the passengers had a stress test done over a MONTH prior and he was lighting my equipment up like a Christmas tree.

Our Radiation Portal Monitors (stationary, all cargo containers must pass through them) can pick up trace amounts of radiation as well. A load of toilets, kitty litter, bananas or anything else that emits natural radiation will set them off.

Will still set off our equipment for up to two months or so.

Nope, very easy to do.

Night sights?

Will it pick them up?

No the tritium is a beta emitter, it wouldn't make it outside the sight unless it ruptured, and even then the beta isn't very energetic and only travels a few inches in air.

I've seen quite a few firetrucks outfitted like this. Really not a bad idea for first responders to transportation accidents now that the equipment cost is so low.. I'm still recalling the fedex crash where 2 hrs after landing the fire department had to call Fedex to figure out if there was any hazmat on the plane.

You exceptionally wrong here.

A person with a fresh dose of MedTech99 sitting in a car will set of detectors inside an office 20ft away.

Not so hard to believe really. Amazon.com has some nice detectors you can buy as a hobbyist now, that could pick that stuff up. Driving by a trooper with one on and having it blip very well could peg a single car to go investigate.

The prd is just one small part of the overall response. They were fielded in an attempt to locate any materials heading into NYC. There is no bs here.

Pretty worthless waste of money. These things are like cheap radar detectors. In many settings, they will have so much garbage setting them off that they are of no use.

Reread JKM's post. If that is the motive then not a waste in my opinion.

Oh, they are all over the place, throughout the county, providing an additional tool for law enforcement to invade people's lives just to stop some imaginary potential threat headed into NYC. Hey, it is just like the movies. I get it. So, when I stop and think about it a bit more, I despise it more. It appears to be more than just a waste but is also a vulgar tool of intrusion.

It'd appear that if the technology is that 'scatterguned' that the easiest way to defeat it would be to have the potential terrorist undergo radiation based testing ploy prior to engagement.......under the scenarios listed all he'd have to do would be to submit the documentation and a convincing story..........and don't think that hasn't been a consideration.

There is no gov't conspiracy. There are very few reasons radioactive material should be popping up...really think about it.

There are false positives, however there are also techniques to filter them out. You can stop a car for a minimally intusive field interview and be done in a couple of minutes...in the same manner that you would articulate any other suspicion.

There is a block of instruction for users that consists of classroom and field excercises, however the deployment of these prd's is still pretty limited. There has been screening since 9/11...this isn't new.

@dogrunner: Yes, this technique is a concern and is brought up in training, however there are secondary screening techniques and certain isotopes that have nothing to do with med that can be isolated. The screening techniques are obvious, but not discussed openly for fear of educating terrs.

Yeah, I've thought about it. False positives are just another indication of radioactive material popping up. Really, think about it.

There are already far too many "tools" available to stop people needlessly.

I know this garbage is not new in concept and that it is becoming more pervasive.

I do not support it. I don't like it. I have a very different, more independent view of things. Different strokes and all that. Some people dig this sort of big brother stuff. I don’t.

i heard one time that the Highway Patrol actually used radiation detectors to detect large sums of money in vehicles as well, that some of those tabs that are in dollar bills have a minute amount of radiation in them.

not sure if that one is true or not...............

No, not true

There's no "right" to bear radioactive material.

If someone pops for an isotope that has no medical or radiographic use, there's a problem. If you look at your display and see heavy dose rates which are well in excess of medical patient levels, you have a problem that affects public health.

I've got a feeling that anyone who actually gets trained will have an understanding well beyond a poltical belief system.

That isn't the 1st time it has happened here.

I know of someone it has happened to, driving along RT91 by New Haven.

In my department they have secret stuff for terrorism, that they hide from all but a few

mmmm they now dress them in black shirts and tan pants....maybe....no wait...these guys are scum bags

The rad counters are under the dash next to the death list dvd.

Cute slap across the cheek. Nice.

You are wrong, plain and simple. Maybe if you were on the other end of the little games of, "Hey, let's stop them and have some fun", you might understand. As for the speculation of being trained, well, guess again. As for the private citizen, I am not big on people traveling from a medical appointments being stopped for entertainment value. However, I do realize it makes for "good sport" for some people. Hey, what are “rights” in our political landscape today anyway? Not much. We need somewhere between one tenth and one one hundredth of the law enforcement we have today, and the same for the BS laws.

I wonder if these new “tools” pick up Tritium? I wonder if the “tools” pick up radon? Both are gases. However, if they could detect a several ACOGs, it might make for an interesting stop. A thousand pounds of soil and rock in a covered truck bed might emit enough radon to raise “suspicions”. But, that kind of information is probably “classified”.

Try the BS lines on the helpless and hopeless. Might have better luck. I'll pass on the large serving of horse manure.

Hey, the "public health" must be protected.

I like the way that is written. It is probably pretty accurate.

It's probably a waste of money to spread these detectors far and wide. The real issue is a shipping container with a working nuclear weapon. It could be shielded in the bottom of a ship and once it's in port, it's too late. It could be detonated any time after and ruin a bunch of people's day. It's the reason the Rand corporation came up with the scenario.

Link to PDF report

I haven't read that one in a while; but, I recall thinking this was really small as nuclear weapons went (10kt?). Stopping cars in the interstate is a waste of time and likely designed to save some of our politician's asses instead of the people's protection at large.

Extremely unlikely. Tritium emits a very low energy beta particle. Almost all of the emitted particles are absorbed by air within a few inches of the source. Skin, paper, water vapor, etc., etc. all act as even stronger absorbers.

Ya think?

How much is given off by a patient after a CT scan, then a month later, and then two months? Some are reporting that the new "tools" can pick that up.

How about Tritium in a glass vial, within an aluminum tube, and seated in steel?

What experience do you draw your opinions from? Are you a first responder? Or even familiar with radioactivity in general?

CT scans do not involve residual radiation

Heart scans, stress tests, and thyroid checks that involve MedTech 99 and Iodine 131 will have easily measurable radiation for 2-3 days and emit lower levels for 1-2 weeks.

But then, old aircraft dials with radium blows the above away in radiation.

Let's see. granite gravel and propane also emit radiation.

Survey trucks also have sources.

Bottom line, people are not being stopped at random by LEO's due to radioaction emmisions.

If this was happening, UPS and FedEx would be suffering major delays, as would many medical lab vehicles.

Strangely, I'm comfortable with these detectors being out there. Good place for them. Static checkpoints could be avoided.

I draw my opinions from the same place most do, preference. Some are OK with being needlessly bothered or seeing others needlessly bothered. I'm not.

Oh, so somehow people are being pulled over after medical procedures, but that doesn’t count. And, somehow those with miscellaneous parts that emit radiation are not being needlessly stopped.

Naw, can’t get on board with it.

A lot people are fine with the Patriot Act too. I am sure people like Obama would never abuse it.

To each their own.

I just put my PRD up to the night sights on my service weapon; results are negative.


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That's what I would expect. Night sights use very little tritium. The glow is caused by a phosphor absorbing the emitted electron (beta particle) and emitting a photon on visible light, so there's already a good absorber between your emitter and your detector.

Also, at an energy of something like 6 keV, very few detectors can pick it up anyway.

KY I respect your opinion and had a long technical response to "win you over", but this stuff doesn't belong on an open forum. I live a 2 hours North of the largest terrorist incident I'm aware of in the USA. When asked what was going to be done to prevent a dirty/conventional nuke in NYC, "nothing" wasn't going to be an acceptable answer.

There are various readings, observations, questions, and techniques that can be used in the span of a "normal" stop to preclude an individual even knowing that it was a radiological stop. I don't treat this as a joke or a reason to harrass people & I don't know anyone who takes their job this way. Most people are happy to know that someone is ensuring their security.

There is no issue with night sights, etc.

Thank you. I sincerely appreciate it.

That is very sweet of you. I greatly appreciate your consideration. I am humbled by your efforts. Please accept my apology for being rude.

I am simply overwhelmed with the general direction of our society. I am on a different sheet of music. I want people to be more individually responsible and independent. I am a huge jerk about trying to follow the law. Heck, I don't smoke, nor drink, and avoid my taking my prescription pain killers. I prefer pain to not being able to responsibly handle a weapon, an aide bag, a vehicle, or direct action. If I am not crying and shaking, I won't touch the stuff. That's just me.

I am also hypersensitive right now. My biological father died last week, and I've spent the past week around "family". Being around animals, baby making machines, criminals, and leeches has me very upset. They are of the same blood that is in my veins. It scares the living tar out of me that I could be like them. I am half out of my mind with frustration regarding my country.

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