TSA purchasing Bottled Liquid Scanners
 

"Smiths Detection has won a contract award for $6.8 million to supply RespondeR Bottled Liquid Scanner (BLS) units to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for use at U.S. airport passenger screening checkpoints."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/smiths...141600165.html

our tax dollars at work :td:

"RespondeR BLS is a compact system that uses Raman spectroscopy technology to identify hazardous liquids in sealed bottles."

Wow, Ramen noodles really can do everything!

This could be a good (expensive) tool...or not. Depends how it is implemented.

If it's like the ETD and it's plagued by false positives (likely due to poor TSO technique/poor machine maintenance) that are the signal for TSOs to immediately assume the worst and trigger LEOs, backroom strip searches, etc., instead of carefully controlled re-testing (glove change/test new gloves on machine/swab/re-test pax) then it won't be a good thing at all.

I also would be very surprised if it is used for anything but testing already allowed (supposedly, depending on the whim of the TSO) LGAs - medical LGAs and infant formula/breast milk.

Is Skeletor on the board of this company too ;)

I imagine there's a lot bigger profit to be made off these machines than there is off simple testing strips.

Excellent I can not wait to fill some brown bottle with urine and pass that through. Then when some TSA asks me about I'll tell them to piss off :D.

The article also says, "The scan and analysis are completed within 20 seconds."

Which could be excruciatingly long if they scan every liquid if/once the liquid ban is lifted...

The amount of money spent for the security show is mind blowing.

Well then I hope its goodbye 3-1-1-

I see it now................2 minutes to dig the liquid out, a minute for the TSO to waddle over to the machine, 2 minutes to figure out how to use it, 20 sec. to run the test and a minute to waddle back. Total time....6 min 20 sec.:td:

Add 2 minutes to make the clerk change his gloves and rest them first.

I agree 100%. Considering prior experience, I predict implementation will be an issue.

Do they already have this at some airports? I noticed a sign describing this as an option today at MIA (the post-customs checkpoint). I did not have any reason to make use of this but I was curious about it.

They have been at the airports for about two years now.