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Shoe Carnival Arrives in Europe

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Old Dec 17, 2014, 9:22 am
  #1  
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Shoe Carnival Arrives in Europe

Last week, at BUD, they made everyone take their shoes off. They had special socks (or something like socks) that passengers could put on while going through the WTMD but I did not bother with this.

I was really surprised about this and a friend who lives in Budapest told me that this day was the first time that he had seen this. Is this starting to pop up at airports outside of the US?

Also, unfortunately, at BUD I saw a green arch type device near one of the WTMDs. I think that this said "Smith Detection." Is this a new type of body scanner? Fortunately, this was not in use.
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Old Dec 17, 2014, 12:05 pm
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Originally Posted by guflyer
Last week, at BUD, they made everyone take their shoes off. They had special socks (or something like socks) that passengers could put on while going through the WTMD but I did not bother with this.

I was really surprised about this and a friend who lives in Budapest told me that this day was the first time that he had seen this. Is this starting to pop up at airports outside of the US?

Also, unfortunately, at BUD I saw a green arch type device near one of the WTMDs. I think that this said "Smith Detection." Is this a new type of body scanner? Fortunately, this was not in use.
Well, the 13th anniversary of Richard Reid is on December 22. Sounds like as good a reason as anything.
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Old Dec 17, 2014, 12:07 pm
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That company has a millimeter wave scanner that looks more like a WTMD. Possibly it scans from the sides as well. Purportedly, it detects PAPER!

They have an x-ray body scanner, too. It's presented mostly as a prison solution, but I don't think it's right to subject even hardened felons to medically unnecessary x-rays. As an aside, there's a video on the site that says the US funded deployment of these kinds of scanners at the Bogota airport.
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Old Dec 17, 2014, 3:51 pm
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Schmurr, the scanner at BUD looked like the one in the photo that you posted, although I remember the metal being green instead of blue. I was happy that the scanner was not in use but its presence concerns me. Should the photo of body scanners on sticky for what constitutes a body scanner be updated?

Regarding the scanner at the Bogota airport, does anyone know if this is being used for security or for Customs? Is it possible to opt out of this? I find the use of this to be scary.
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Old Dec 17, 2014, 4:41 pm
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Originally Posted by guflyer
Also, unfortunately, at BUD I saw a green arch type device near one of the WTMDs. I think that this said "Smith Detection." Is this a new type of body scanner? Fortunately, this was not in use.
Originally Posted by Schmurrr
That company has a millimeter wave scanner that looks more like a WTMD. Possibly it scans from the sides as well. Purportedly, it detects PAPER!

They have an x-ray body scanner, too. It's presented mostly as a prison solution, but I don't think it's right to subject even hardened felons to medically unnecessary x-rays. As an aside, there's a video on the site that says the US funded deployment of these kinds of scanners at the Bogota airport.
Before we all get too carried away, it should be pointed out that Smith Detection make ordinary old-fashioned walk-through metal detectors, too. So if it looked like a metal detector it may have been just a metal detector.

Also, the current range of millimetre wave scanners are meant to detect paper (eg a book or a wad of tissues in a pocket) so I don't think the claim is that surprising or new.
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Old Dec 17, 2014, 9:58 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by Schmurrr
That company has a millimeter wave scanner that looks more like a WTMD. Possibly it scans from the sides as well. Purportedly, it detects PAPER!

They have an x-ray body scanner, too. It's presented mostly as a prison solution, but I don't think it's right to subject even hardened felons to medically unnecessary x-rays. As an aside, there's a video on the site that says the US funded deployment of these kinds of scanners at the Bogota airport.
That's it! That's exactly what I saw. They have x-rays body scanners at Colombia airports. They were looking for drugs, money, guns, knives and etc. Yes, they had it right to arrested the bad guys. They have keep drugs off the airports. No one to bring drugs at security checkpoints. That's exactly the Colombia police is looking for smuggling. Security is very tight.
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Old Dec 18, 2014, 4:01 am
  #7  
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Recently, BUD was asking passengers with boots to remove them, but it was not a 100% shoe carnival.

It's pretty shameful and stupid that they were forcing anyone to remove their footwear.
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Old Dec 18, 2014, 10:00 am
  #8  
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When I went through at BUD, they made me remove my tennis shoes, which I know do not cause issues at metal detectors.

Regarding the Smith Detection device, I am unfortunately sure from the photo that the one that I saw as a body scanner and not a WTMD although I wish that it was a WTMD.

Regarding the device in Columbia--I could not tell from the posts whether everyone is required to go to body scanners there, whether it is used for Customs, security, or both, and whether there is any opt-out option.
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